Graciela Rodriguez, Jeanette Godoy, Luna Rivera, Victoria Ratermanis, Lisa Richards and Alma Martinez (Photo by Steve Moyer)
Reviewed by Odalys Nanin
Greenway Court Theatre
Through Feb 22
René Rivera and José Medina (Photo by Steve Moyer)
In Stacey Martino Rivera’s The Circle, set in 2016, three generations of two different families (The Medina and Mahoney clans) come together for a weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Meanwhile, thousands take to the street to protest police brutality; and on July 19, Trump is nominated for president of the USA. The consequences are massive protests and the killing of innocent people on the streets — similar to the chaos created by ICE across the country some ten years later.
The Circle is a tragi-comic play where Rivera explores the conflict between two estranged brothers. José Medina (played with bravado by René Rivera) is a felon who cares for his ill mother. His younger brother, Ronnie (the charismatic Lakin Valdez) is an actor trying to make it in the film industry. He would like to marry his girlfriend, the very pregnant Molly Mahoney (Victoria Ratermanis, a plausible and solid performance). Meanwhile, Molly’s mother, Maeve Mahoney, is played with great comedic timing by Lisa Richards.
The center of the story focuses on the Medina brothers’ mother, Eva (Alma Martinez, stellar performance), suffering from dementia. She keeps the play on track as so much of the focus is on her need for constant care. Her hallucinations reveal her past life through nuggets of exposition that are crucial to understanding the conflict in the Medina family. Her late husband once planted a tree that’s now become symbolic, with its long, naked limbs hanging over the stage. (Set design by Tom Brown). She implores her son, José, “I’m disappearing; Don’t let my tree die.”
This tree of life is the circle of the play’s title, a representation of birth, growth, death & rebirth.
The tragi-comic/absurdist component comes when José decides to kidnap a white MAGA homeless person, Bud (Michael Brainard), whom José ran over by accident. José ties him to Eva’s wheelchair and hides him in a closet. José is afraid (with good reason) that Bud will squeal on him to the police and he will be sent back to jail.
Meanwhile, the entire saga is narrated by 16-year-old Ana Medina (Ava Rivera), who is the daughter of Ronnie and his pregnant girlfriend, Molly. (Luna Rivera portrays Ana at age 12 with convincing candor.) It is Ana who looks back to this tragic weekend when she was only 12, and to how these events shaped her life. She is like the healing balm that her Uncle Jose needs to heal his wounds.
The writer’s intent to turn conflict into reconciliation comes about as José wrestles with whether or not to set Bud free. And once free, will Bud want to leave?
This is all a twisted, crazy turn of events, a long and bittersweet joy ride – perhaps so long that it overstays its welcome, despite its many virtues.
The sound design and music are expertly created by Germaine Franco; as is Alejandro Melendez’s lighting design.
Greenway Court, Theatre, Fairfax Ave., West Hollywood. Opens Fri., Jan. 30; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru Feb. 22. https://greenwaycourttheatre.org Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes with intermission.
