Fefu and Her Friends

Fefu and Her Friends

Theatre for a New Audience

Polansky Shakespeare Center

November 29, 2019

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

Theatre for a New Audience’s production of María Irene Fornés’ Fefu and Her Friends is riveting.  The integrated cast of women deliver highly skilled and powerful performances.  They bring dimension to Ms. Fornés’ phenomenally drawn characters.  Director Lileana Blaine-Cruz illuminates the detail and intimacy in every moment, building the action to its shocking and unexpected ending.

The year is 1935.  Fefu (played by Amelia Workman) is having a luncheon for seven of her college alumni, socially conscious friends.  They gather in her New England estate to plan the group’s upcoming lecture/presentation.  They are an eclectic group of women.  The bond between them is very strong, yet at the same time, strained.  Each one holds a deep seeded pain or sense of loss that incite various levels of compassion and fear throughout the group.  They gain little comfort from sharing their stories, yet continually seek reassurance from one another’s companionship.

Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience

María Irene Fornés’ broke ground with this play, when it was first presented in 1978, by having the audience split into smaller groups and follow the characters to four different locations in Fefu’s estate.  These four scenes take place simultaneously, and are therefore performed four times.  The audience can hear the other scenes, just as if people are talking in nearby rooms.  The scenes are precisely timed, as the characters enter and exit the four locations.  Scenic design by Adam Rigg efficiently utilizes the space, while immersing the audience in the rich setting of Fefu’s 1935 New England estate.  What was groundbreaking in 1978 remains stunning and unique forty-one years later.  Ms. Fornés’ themes and social commentary remain relevant and ring with truth to a present-day audience.

Ameleia Workman & Jennifer Lim
Photo courtesy of Theatre for a New Audience 

The cast spectacularly portrays individual characters with rich back stories, driven by longing.  There are strong performances by Brittany Bradford, Juliana Canfield, Helen Cespedes, Jennifer Lim, Ronette Levenson, Lindsay Rico, Amelia Workman, and Carmen Zilles.  Fefu and Her Friends is playing downtown Brooklyn at Theatre for a New Audience through December 8.  Check it out!

Domenick Danza

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine

Fabulation,

or the Re-Education of Undine

Signature Theatre

Pershing Square Signature Center

December 26, 2018

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

What happens when the life you create for yourself collapses around you, leaving you with no choice but to return to your family, who you turned your back on years earlier?  That is the dramatic question and story line of Lynn Nottage’s comedy, Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine.  Director Lileana Blain-Cruz finds the timing needed to deliver the laughs in the cutting humor and direct address of the main character.  Ms. Nottage’s play is full of social commentary and bitter sarcasm, yet offers a glimpse for a more hopeful tomorrow. 

Undine (played by Cherise Boothe) is a self-made, high powered, very successful PR exec, who calls all the shots with total disregard for everyone but herself.  When her husband, Herve (played by Ian Lassiter), drains her bank accounts and abandons her, she finds herself pregnant and destitute.  She returns to her family in Brooklyn, who, according to the stories she make up when she re-created herself after college, died in a fire.  The culture shock of her return to the housing projects is heightened when she is arrested for buying crack for her addicted Grandmother (played by Heather Alicia Simms).  As dark as things get, nothing is greater than her fear of having a baby and becoming a mother.

J. Bernard Calloway & Cherise Boothe
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

Charisse Boothe delivers a tremendous performance in the difficult and complex role of Undine.  She is brash, pushy, condescending, and unlikeable, yet Ms. Boothe keeps a hold of the audience’s attention as they engage in her character’s journey.  Each one of Undine’s outbursts peels back a layer of her harsh exterior until her vulnerable heart is finally exposed.  At that moment you realize that Ms. Boothe has been playing every one of Undine’s brutal traits with that susceptible heart, which is why you connected to her struggle from the start.

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

The cast is a brilliant ensemble, playing numerous and varied roles.  Funny, touching, and raw character are created by Mayaa Boateng, Marcus Callender, J. Bernard Calloway, Dashiell Eaves, Ian Lassider, Nikiya Mathis, and Heather Alicia Simms. 

Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine is playing at Pershing Square Signature Center through January 13.  There’s still time to get a ticket.

Domenick Danza