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Animals Out of Paper
Reviewed by Devil Weil
East West Players
Through Oct. 5
RECOMMENDED:
Celebrating 50 years of showcasing plays by and acted by individuals of color, East West Players production of Rajiv Joseph’s Animals out of Paper marks the opening of its latest season. Directed by Jennifer Chang, the production exemplifies the strength and valor of this one-of-a-kind LA theater landmark, which started in a storefront theater in Hollywood, and is now a union company in Little Tokyo.
Grandeur and history are evoked by the former church, in which the company now performs. From first glance, Naomi Kasahara’s set design is a meld of masterpiece and mess. Upstage is a recreation of the Meganebashi Bridge or “Spectacles Bridge” in Nagasaki, Japan, which is hidden behind the overwhelming origami paper that consumes the rest of the stage along with the mayhem of the artist who lives there, Ilana (Tess Lina). Although the origami seems to be the focal point of the stage, exceptionally crafted and highlighted by origami artist Robert J. Lang, the real centerpieces are the trio of characters, Ilana, Andy (C.S. Lee), and Suresh (Kapil Talkwalkar), whose internal dramas and dynamics quietly epitomize the cluttered circus of scrap papers on the floor.
Ilana, the origami artist, a divorcee and now in a further melancholic state since her dog ran away, is a ball of tension, unable to create. She is rigid with a manner of straight, curt speech that screams “Get out of my face, and get out of my space.” Ilana opts to be a recluse, hiding behind her origami projects, one of which is a paper heart. Her solitary existence ends when Andy, the American Origami treasurer, also a high school calculus teacher and fan of Ilana’s, arrives at her door with exuberance and another project for her.
Andy is Ilana’s foil, a man with excitement and appreciation for life, one who lives by “counting his blessings” by literally writing each one down in a little black-bound journal. Although his pain is beneath the surface, it is present, palpable, and pulses just as deeply. Andy arrived at the perfect time to snap Ilana out of her sloth-like existence lying on her sofa unable to attempt any artistic endeavors. Andy sends over a genius student of his, Suresh, who has experienced his own burdens: His mom was recently killed in a hit-and-run accident. Suresh is a master in all areas he meddles in, origami being no exception.
When Suresh first arrives, the Hip-Hop tunes of The Notorious B.I.G. (“Throw your hands in the air if you a true player”) are blaring through his headphones. He swaggers in as if he is the rapper himself, a typical rebellious teen, untucked casual, and speaking in black vernacular to complete the aura. He exudes a chill, tough guy, I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude, though behind that mask is something brooding and tumultuous, a teenage boy hungry for a clear identity. Unlike Ilana who tackles origami with rigor and rigidity folding in a calculated, measured manner, Suresh tackles the origami like he is “free-styling” — viewing the folding of the paper as poetry, more malleable and improvisational, something free-flowing and open to interpretation.
Animals out of Paper drives home the poetic message that with origami and with life, what starts as something flat and flawless is morphed into something multi-dimensional and complicated. While the paper feeds off of the folds giving way to new shapes, human life feeds off of other human life, a constant interplay, like chameleons in flux, adapting to our situations and surroundings.
East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St, Little Tokyo; Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Oct. 5. Eastwestplayers.org
