MUD

Reviewed by Martίn Hernández

Loft Ensemble

Through Sept. 11

In a post-apocalypse of the not-too-distant future, a small cadre of survivors has organized a somewhat stable New York City-adjacent community committed to avoiding the devastating mistakes of the past. But will this effort succeed or create structures even more perilous than the ones the group rejects? Despite the engaging premise and characters in her world premiere production, playwright/director Bree Pavey’s critique of capitalism’s voracious American brand gets bogged down in plot holes the talented cast admirably tries to fill.

Espousing the rubric that “the wheel is more important than the spokes,” the residents are known only by their function in the camp rather than their real names. Thus, The Feeder (Benjamin Rawls) preps and cooks the meals, The Guardian (Danielle Ozymandias) enforces the rules, The Adjudicator (Antwan Alexander II) sorts out any conflicts, The Scribe (Sara Nilsen) keeps the sanctuary’s historical record in a Sacred Book, and so on.

Their leader is The Gardener (Lemon Baardsen), who cultivates the skills of their underlings and rules with a benevolent bent and apparent consensus. Though wary of strangers, who they trap in deep pits scattered around the compound, the denizens will nurse an intruder back to health, give them provisions, and jettison them back into the wilderness to protect the community’s meager resources and its austere way of life. No use rocking a leaky boat.

But when the latest trespasser (Benjamin Marshall) is revealed to be a village member’s old friend, a strident debate erupts, with The Feeder calling for the newbie to remain and a bigger change in protocols while The Gardener refuses to deviate from the status quo and feels the safety of their flock and their control are in jeopardy. The contradiction sets off a chain reaction that exposes dark secrets that threaten not only the community’s existence but also the lives of its members.

Pavey’s effort is visually appealing, with Madylin Sweeten Durrie’s multi-level hard wood set realistically expressing the rustic nature of the new society. Tor Brown’s lighting design effectively conveys the characters’ moods, such as in a pivotal scene between The Adjudicator and The Guardian as well as during various monologues.

The Biblical allusions, with a sacred book serving as a touchstone, cryptic references to “The Beast” that caused the ruckus, and the torrent of mud that followed the calamity, are not lost on us. There are plenty of comic moments as well, with Pavey taking potshots at corporate culture’s deceptive attempts at wellness care, with characters hugging out their disagreements and delivering trite sayings like “thank you for your contribution.”  

The flaws of the piece are in some problematic storytelling choices. Pavey’s characters refer to such periods as “The Before Times,” and “The During Times,” as if they occurred generations before. However, by the characters’ ages and allusions to Black Lives Matter, abortion rights, and other social justice movements, those phases seem to have happened within the last five years, ten at the most.

Pavey would also have us believe that her characters have never learned each other’s names, though it is hard to fathom that the first thing out of one’s mouth when meeting a new person would not be “Hello I’m so-and-so. What’s your name?” By the same token, in such a close-knit unit, how can all those devastating secrets be kept, especially when we learn how easy it is for one character to find them out?

Pavey does present flashbacks prior to the collapse that give insight to the social, political, and economic conditions leading to the characters’ roles in the new order. The Hole Digger (Travyz Santos Gatz) offers a boozy working-class lament many can empathize with while The Holder (Barbera Ann Howard) delivers a horrific monologue of an abortion gone wrong. The Gardener’s flashback is most illuminating, reinforcing the reason why they are the one in charge and how they stay that way.

It is ironic that The Scribe’s flashback outlines their intention to replace American Exceptionalism in future history books with the U.S.A.’s true past of, among other things, systemic racism, despite only one character in Pavey’s work being Black and the others being White or White-presenting – Gatz does identify as Chicano in the program. In a setting teeming with multi-cultural and multi-racial folks before the fall, did the Armageddon wipe most of them out? Maybe that is just another of the survivors’ murky secrets.  

(All roles are double cast, and some actors may not appear in the show you attend but they may well appear in the audience to loudly cheer on their fellow castmates.)

Loft Ensemble, 11031 Camarillo Street, N. Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. thru Sept. 11. Running time 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission https://www.loftensemble.org/