Rob Shiells and Tara Alexandra Brown (Photo by Matt Kamimura)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Theatre Unleashed in association with Fierce Mama Productions at Hobgoblin Playhouse
Through October 10
Arden Lewis and Soda Persi (Photo by Matt Kamimura)
It’s frustrating when what could have been a fine play narrowly skirts its potential.
An imago refers to the final phase in a butterfly’s life when it has achieved its fully adult form. Imago, Wendy Gough Soroka’s play, now at the Hobgoblin Playhouse, has many virtues, including a winning cast, Richard Piatt’s competent direction, and a promisingly offbeat premise. However, Soroka’s overly long and unnecessarily repetitive new work is a draft or two away from excellence.
Now in her mid-40s, Katherine (Soda Persi) is a dedicated artist who has followed her muse to the point of indigence, much to the annoyance of her stable, settled realtor sister, Beth (Aarti Mann), who needles Katherine to get a real job.
Long resisting marriage, Katherine is in a long-term liaison with a much younger computer engineer, Paul, (Rob Shiells). Despite Paul’s repeated assurances that he’s in for the long haul, she’s convinced their age difference will eventually doom their relationship. Meanwhile, Katherine is hoping to sell some paintings at her upcoming gallery show arranged by her agent and friend, Shanelle (Tara Alexander Brown). The proceeds, Katherine hopes, will help her purchase her beloved artist’s studio, which is going condo.
The problem is that Katherine has devoted her artistic career to painting butterflies — not as things of beauty but as monsters. (It’s a weird premise that somehow works.) Let’s just say her grim canvases are not big moneymakers. Behind the scenes, her former lover David (Chase Green) has been appropriating her ideas, transmuting her creations into kitschy, prettified butterfly images that have made him wealthy and world famous.
After a blistering argument with Paul, one that she’s convinced spells their final breakup, Katherine visits her dying, emotionally destructive mother, Fran (Arden Lewis), who viciously blames Katherine for her own derailed and disappointing life.
It’s a low point for our heroine. Imago offers a way forward, but its meandering, circuitous storyline needs major pruning.
Editorial opportunities are obvious throughout. Just one example involves Paul laboriously prolonged reading of the texts that Katherine has missed due to a misplaced cellphone. It’s a scene that could have been trimmed or entirely elided without disrupting the narrative flow. Yet despite her occasional longwindedness, Soroka has a flair for naturalistic dialogue, while the actors are impressively convincing in what seem to be spontaneous, off-the-cuff exchanges.
Other highlights include Piatt’s cleverly malleable set, rolling flats that seamlessly switch from Katherine’s funky apartment to additional locales, and Green’s amusing video segments, featuring Andrew Thacher as an arts program host who interviews the smugly self-satisfied David.
Those are just a few of the many merits of the promising but yet unformed Imago, which at this juncture remains a chrysalis that has not yet metamorphosed into its fully adult form.
Theatre Unleashed, in association with Fierce Mama Productions, The Hobgoblin Playhouse, 1516 North Gardner St., Hollywood. Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 pm; thru Oct. 10. https://events.thestagecrafts.com/projects/15261?tab=details Runtime: two hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.
