Someone Else's Bordertown
Reviewed
10/23/04
Someone Else's Bordertown
Reviewed
10/23/04
Once again, things are not fiscally well at Actors Theatre, and that’s a shame. Matthew Wiener’s risk-taking company, the one that does the kind of darker fare I tend to enjoy, is searching for $140,000 in 140 days. Wiener’s curtain speech on opening night suggested that even with the shrinking of their season from six productions back to five, the company might not make it that far if help didn’t come fast. I really want to see them succeed because they have mounted some excellent works recently. I wish I could say this is the case with their season opener, but they seem to have miscalculated this risk.
San Diego-based Culture Clash’s Bordertown is a Saturday
Night Live-style examination and recreation of the uneasy melting pot of
their hometown. Diane Rodriguez’ direction and the trio’s powerhouse
acting (Andrés Alcalá, Richard Trujillo,
and Gordon
Waggoner) is wild
and brisk, but this is a piece whose relevance to Phoenix is not as strong
as I think AT believed. Save for awful and jarringly grafted-on self-references,
this is a play that needs to devote a page of their program to explaining
to their audience the meanings of the endless references to street and neighborhood
names and Spanish phrases. I’m sure that AT’s wealthier season
patrons are familiar with the town that is probably their summer hideaway,
but anyone who hasn’t spent much time there will have to get by on
the recognizable archetypes that populate the blackout scenes.
Ethiopians converse with Philippinos about integrating. Older Chicanos converse about having taken over their piece of the town. Japanese gangstas confront Mexican nationals in impromptu drag races. One of the loonies from the Heaven’s Gate tragedy offers cosmic platitudes. Armed guerillas on both sides of the border confront the negatives of NAFTA. Shamu even drops in for a rant. It’s all very cute, but this ultimately feels like a slideshow of someone else’s home.
Nothing bad can be said about the production values. Rodriguez has found many interesting ways of presenting the balancing comedy and thoughtfulness while keeping it tilted forward. All three actors are energetic and quick to ace a comedic moment. They don their multiple roles gracefully. However, by the time all three melded into rather obvious stoner surfers commenting on yet another issue of San Diego’s, I realized that I was a tourist in this evening, and I wanted nothing more than to return to Phoenix. I’m sorry that San Diego feels so schizophrenic and inferior to L.A. and S.F., but I don’t live there.
Still, the show tries everything it can to entertain even as it misses much on enlightenment. Sandra Burns’ set is a wonderful commentary with quite useful props. Lois K. Myers’ costumes look straight from San Diego’s neighborhoods. Paul A. Black’s lighting is edgy. Culture Clash’s and David Temby’s sound design is as jarring as it wishes to be.
