Untitled Baby Play
Reviewed by Dana Martin
IAMA Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre
Through June 27th
Nina Braddock’s new work, Untitled Baby Play, is a whole pandemic in the making. The play seeks to address the question every reproductively abled person is confronted with: “Are you going to have a baby?” IAMA Theatre Company’s world premiere production bravely confronts the subject of whether or not to reproduce, but too often circumvents the nuances of the conversation surrounding the subject of parenthood.
The play’s action surrounds a group of friends/frenemies who’ve been volunteered to plan a baby shower for Libby, a character we never meet but the only person all of the women have in common. Some are Libby’s childhood friends, while others she met in college. Each of these women has a busy full life, with little time to plan, let alone attend, a baby shower.
Most of Act 1 consists of a dramatized email thread between the non-descript friends, a convention that falls flat after the first scene. Penny (Sonal Shah), the most dominant among the group, asserts her authority by forming the “baby brigade” and demanding the groups input on every painstaking detail. She nearly loses her mind over delayed responses and side conversations on a thread that is strictly baby business. Meredith (Laila Ayad), stressed out and annoyed by Penny’s dominance, passive aggressively makes this known in her email responses, which is one of the play’s biggest points of tension. Gillian (Courtney Sauls), a schoolteacher, absorbs herself in her latest school project and subtly reveals her underlying angst through her email’s signature quotes. Eden (Sarah Utterback) manages to placate the pissy party planners while balancing her writing career. Clara (Jenny Soo) is nursing a new baby and is often isolated and absent from the conversation while tending to her newborn. Natalia (Anna Rose Hopkins), an actress, wants to birth her next role, never a baby.
The play’s tone shifts in the second act — the day of the baby shower — as the women are forced to deal with each other face-to-face rather than through carefully crafted email responses. Still, individual feelings and points of view surrounding pregnancy and motherhood are often secondary to the mundane detail of their interpersonal relationships.
Sonal Shah’s Penny drives the action of the first act and is tightly wound from the jump. She enters the space at a 10 and keeps it that way for the play’s duration. Laila Ayad’s perpetually put-out Meredith keeps her performance close to the chest. Jenny Soo’s Clara, a completely exhausted and newly single new mother, is refreshing. Soo delivers the most relaxed performance, and the most authentic. She absorbs herself in the action rather than showing us the action. Anna Rose Hopkins’ Natalia finds a naïve sweetness played with humor and heart. Sarah Utterback’s Eden is sturdy and dependable. Courtney Sauls’s performance as Gillian finds the complexity and nuance the play is striving for.
Playwright Braddock has created Untitled Baby Play with sincerity and conviction but often overwrites the dialogue. Each character has an opportunity throughout to reveal her personal struggle/relationship over whether or not she will or can have a child. The nuance and complexity of these stories are often overshadowed by interpersonal drama. Each one is unique and equally deserving of attention, but there are six of them and so each story is diluted. Further, the party planning is not a big enough catalyst to propel all of the women into the confession/revelation of their true experience. In fact, the play’s most interesting moments occur when the actors are out of focus, existing in their own worlds, dealing with their feelings privately, lost in everyday activities.
Director Katie Lindsay keeps the play moving at a steady pace but struggles to find its quieter, more tender moments. Cindy Lin’s thoughtful set design (additional credit to original set consultant, Eli Smith) is multifunctional and clever. Lin creates six completely different worlds in a relatively small playing space, which transforms into a bathroom in the second act. Alexis Chaney’s costume design is understated and serves the story well. Dan Weingarten’s slick lighting design does much to stylize the piece. Michael O’Hara’s props were useful and plentiful. Andrea ‘Slim’ Allmond’s sound design subtly fills in the world of the play and provides an upbeat mixtape of strong female anthems that establish the evening’s mood.
Almost every reproductively abled person has some version of a baby story to tell, which is why Untitled Baby Playultimately resonates. It addresses societal and familial expectation and a wide range of women’s experiences: having children or not having children, wanting them or not wanting them, the inability to have children, IVF, miscarriage, adoption. While Untitled Baby Play struggles to find focus, it nonetheless brings to light the complex, emotional and extremely personal and seemingly innocuous subject of becoming a parent.
Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; Mon. 8 p.m.; through June 27th. iamatheatre.com. Running time: Two hours with one 1- minute intermission.
