Jehnean Washington, Zoey Reyes and Carolyn Dunn (Photo by Tim Sullens)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
The Victory Theater Center
Thru March 23
In Four Women in Red, playwright Laura Shamas highlights the plight of Native American women who have disappeared and/or have been murdered at a ratio far exceeding their numbers. Halfway measures enacted in recent years — a national day of awareness, a special unit in the U.S. Department of Justice, various state laws mandating attention to address these tragedies — have functioned like band aids on a festering sore. The situation persists. Local law enforcement authorities frequently ignore or fail to devote resources to solving these crimes, leaving families to rage and grieve without ever gaining closure for their loss.
Shamas’s four characters meet in a sheriff’s office where they have come to pressure the local sheriff for information about and to take action regarding their loved ones. Mother Lynda (Carolyn Dunn) and daughter Jo (Harriette Feliz) are there about Jo’s sister Sarah, missing for two years. A third woman, Sadie, (Zoey Reyes) is pursuing the disappearance of her ex (but still very much loved) partner, Becky. Marie (Jehnean Washington), a nurse who also operates her own podcast, has suffered a double whammy— losing both her cousin and her 20-year-old niece.
After sharing their pain, the women decide to band together to conduct their own independent search. Sadie imagines recruiting as many as 1000 people to assist, but reality sets in and the group ends by setting a goal of 50 volunteers. Obstacles exist, however, even for that limited goal; apathy or a lack of awareness among the community and a lack of funds to get their message across. There are personality clashes, chiefly between Lynda, who has firm ideas about what should and should not be done about anything, and Marie, who is tormented by the loss of two women she cared deeply about but is frequently ambivalent about taking action within a group. Lynda and Marie also fall out when Marie counsels Jo about her aspirations to study nursing, a situation that threatens Lynda because she sees it as a separating her from her remaining, much cherished daughter.
Directed by Jeanette Harrison, Four Women in Red bears a poignant message. (The “red” in the title derives from the symbolic meaning of the color in a variety of Native American cultures; here it represents a link to the spirits, to the community, and to the memory of blood shed for the honor of the tribe.) While important and disturbing, the piece nonetheless needs revising. Much of the dialogue registers as exposition rather than natural and/or spontaneous conversation. Conflicts among the women often appear contrived, a workmanlike way of pushing the narrative forward. At the performance, I saw, the actors were less than fully persuasive — serving more accurately as couriers for the play’s intent. In later scenes, strident tones and raised voices take the place of credible grief and passion.
Modest production values ably frame the narrative. On a small proscenium, production designer Evan Bartoletti makes use of pivoting slats to shift between various interiors. Costumes by Lorna Bowen and set decoration by Delinda Pushtonequa add Native American color and flavor to a story which, whatever the limitations of its telling, nonetheless needs to be told.
The Victory Theater Center, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 4 pm; thru March 23. thevictorytheatrecenter.org Running time: approximately 85 minutes with no intermission.
