This Land 

Reviewed by Gray Palmer
Company of Angels
Extended through November 20

RECOMMENDED

With This Land, now receiving a world premiere at Company of Angels, playwright Evangeline Ordaz has written a satisfying piece of American epic theatre. We have seen other recent examples in Los Angeles: Suzan Lori-Parks’s work-in-progress, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), and Evelina Fernandez’s Mexican Trilogy: An American Story.

This Land is about the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. Its timeline begins in 1846 and concludes in 1992. But unlike Parks and Fernandez, who in their plays use a chronological long-form with novelistic accretion of detail, Ordaz employs a strategy of compression and montage. She takes stories from, mainly, three periods of Watts, and interweaves them in a collage, almost as though we are contemplating “block time,” a vision of all history taking place at once.

That sounds complicated, but it isn’t. Ordaz and director Armando Molina, with a truly knock-out ensemble, make it seem easy. The action of the narrative is very clear with vivid characters and naturalistic dialogue. In addition to Spanish and English, there is a further linguistic surprise: one of the main stories is presented partly in Tongva (with super-titles), an extinct Uto-Aztecan language.

We see Alta California at the bitter end of the declining mission period, mostly from the viewpoint of a young Indian woman, Tonya (Cheryl Umaña — I’m going to spare the superlatives in listing performers: just read-in “excellent” for each one), whose father (Richard Azurdia) is murdered for attempting to escape mission-slavery, and who marries the son (Jeff Torres) of the land-owner — in a union that seems to be directed by the ghost of her father.

During the Mexican-American War, we see a parcel of land given to an Irish adventurer, Patrick (Ian Alda), in exchange for military intelligence (possibly enabling the successful escape of Pio Pico to Baja).

We see the purchase of a house by Leola (LeShay Tomlinson) during the Second Migration. This marvelous character has emigrated from Bastrop, Louisiana, driven from the Jim Crow south, lured by the opportunities of wartime aircraft manufacturing. Her troubled daughter, Leslie (Niketa Calame) — a reader of Young Socialist magazine — is sometimes cared for by their sweet neighbor, Maeve Hillman (Johanna McKay), niece of an “Uncle Patrick,” from whom she inherited her house and an additional vacant lot in the neighborhood.

We jump to the 60s and observe tensions between blacks and Latinx; a hard-working, gifted lunchero (Azurdia again) moves in next to Leola’s house, parking his Taco truck in front (to the dismay of some neighbors). During this time, we observe local innovation (and romance) in what might be called a “dance of dishes.” Prickly-pear paste and a Louisiana pot-roast are combined to make a wildly popular local taco.

And we jump again, to 1992, observing the madness of speculation by absentee landowners — to whom everything we have witnessed is “external to the act of exchange” — culminating in the violence of the Rodney King Rebellion.

There are 15 characters played by the 7 actors. The character-craft in transformation of speech and physicality is wonderful — and in some cases shocking. These performers pull off an almost mediumistic illusion and become “transparent things through which the past shines!”

The fine designers are Justin Huen (scenic and lighting), Manee Leija (costumes), Rebecca Kessin (sound), and Benjamin Durham (video).

Could there be a better debut for Company of Angels at their new home in Boyle Heights?

Company of Angels, 1350 San Pablo St., Boyle Heights; Fri. & Sat. 8 pm; Sun. 7 pm; Mon. 8 pm; Extended through November 20; (323) 475-8814 or companyofangels.org. Running time: 2 hours and twenty minutes with intermission.