Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: New Jersey

Inscrutable Pinkolandia: A Compelling and Provocative Poetic Journey for Intrepid Theatergoers
Two River Theatre


Maria Helan and Andrea Morales
Pinkolandia, by self-described "Chilean-Costa Rican, Wisconsin born" playwright Andrea Thome, is an imaginative, poetic play which teems with life and provocative drama. Although it often has the political tone of left-wing agit-prop theatre, it is so laden with surrealism, metaphysics and inexplicable behaviors—not to mention that about 20% of its dialogue is in Spanish—that, ultimately, this reviewer was unable to understand the point of view of the playwright and is at a loss as to how Thome regards and would have us regard the behavior, intentions, ideation and soul of most of her characters, and the country which provided them refuge.

The Spanish dialogue (and the poetic passion that it exudes in the hands of this cast) is certainly an enhancement both in the verisimilitude and emotional rhythms of the play, but absent a greatly expanded employment of supertitles, the loss (which includes more than a bit of humor) for those who do not speak Spanish is considerable. In fact, in a scene where there is a smattering of English translation provided on a screen, I felt there was some distance between the stage performance and the words that I was reading.

The time is 1982, and the settings are a college town in Wisconsin and the imaginary worlds created by and inhabited by 12-year-old Beny, and her 6-year-old sister, Gaby. Mom and Dad, who were dedicated Marxists, were forced to flee to the United States from their native Chile in 1973 after opposing the coup which ousted Salvador Allende and installed the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The pro-Sandinista Dad believes that Beny can and should use the freedom of America to speak up for the revolution of the masses, but her once pro-revolutionary mother wants the family to let go of their failed cause and assimilate into their new homeland. Both parents conceal from Beny details of their travail in Chile. This contributes to Beny's growing anger at them for abandoning Chile to the "fascists."

In a class debate, the brainy Beny is outspoken, even violent, in her hatred for the use of American power to meddle in the affairs of Chile and the like in order to undermine socialist revolution. She calls Reagan "a killer ... a fascist". The boy whom she is debating calls her a "pinko commie."

Both Beny and Gaby spend a considerable amount of time in "Closetland," a large bedroom closet. In Closetland, Gaby is in a dangerous world of cold and ice where she is threatened by a growling monster who is a polar bear. In time, the polar bear does thaw, only to threaten her life in an incident which leads to the injection of magic realism into Pinkolandia's mix. Gaby, who is obsessed with the Holocaust, enters a world filled with Nazis, some of them in Nazi Germany where she is surrounded by Nazi demonstrators who hostilely bear signs with the word "Juden" (Jew). She also "relives" false memories of her arrest and interrogation by Chilean "Nazis" wearing armbands with Swastikas who believe that she is Jewish.

There is a long awaited visit from the girls' uncle, Tio Ignacio, the most militant pro-Allende Marxist in the family. The play really heats up when the revolutionary songs and rhetoric of Ignacio finally send Beny into a violent anti-American tirade which gets her expelled from school.

The heat mounts with a scene in which Beny turns into a fascist in her treatment of Gaby, and the sisters return once more to Closetland where, with the aid of effective background music, Pinkolandia rises to a fever pitch of dramatic fury as Gaby is lured into danger by her polar bear. However, the answers as to the questions as to where and why Pinkolandia has evolved as it has and what it all means remain hidden behind a wall that Thome's final scenes fail to penetrate.

Staging-wise, director Jose Zayas has done a superlative job. He has obtained beautifully styled performances from adult actors Andrea Morales and Maria Helan as Gaby and Beny, respectively, and strong, naturalistic performances from the other members of the cast. In creating a fascinating and complex environment for the richly varied elements of Thome's script, Zayas has received extraordinary support from his design team: projection designers Alex Koch, Kate Freer and Dave Tennent; scenic designer Raul Abrego; lighting designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew; and costume designer Asta Bennie Hostetter.

With her richly imaginative Pinkolandia, playwright Andrea Thome demonstrates a great deal of raw talent. It is well worth the attention of anyone interested in the future of American theatre.

Pinkolandia continues performances (Evenings: Wednesday 7 pm/ Thursday-Saturday 8 pm/ Matinees: Wednesday 1 pm/ Thursday 10 am/ Saturday - Sunday 3 pm) through March 23, 2014, at the Two River Theatre Company, Marion Huber Theatre, 21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank 07701; Box Office: 732-345-1400 / online: www.trtc.org.

Pinkolandia is part of the Lark Play Development Center's Launching New Plays into the Repertoire Fellowship. This production is part of a four-city rolling word premiere with partner theaters New York City's Intar Theatre, New Jersey's Two River Theater, Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater and Chicago's 16th Street Theatre. This initiative is made possible with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information visit www.larktheatre.org.

Pinkolandia by Andrea Thome; directed by Jose Zayas

Cast
Dad/Kid 3………………………….............Varin Ayala
Ignacio/Bear/Pittman/Old Man…David Crommett
Beny………………………………………....Maria Helan
Mom/Kid 2………………………………….Annie Henk
Gaby…………………………………..Andrea Morales
Pepi/Kid 1/Nazi………………………..Gabriel Sloyer


Photo: T. Charles Erickson


- Bob Rendell