Good fences don’t always make good neighbors, but they do make for great comedy in this new play directed by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld). An attorney on the rise and his very pregnant wife couldn’t feel more welcomed by their new neighbors. But when a friendly disagreement about the lay of the land escalates into a backyard brawl, cultures collide and mudslinging ensues…literally.
Featuring Christian Barillas (Modern Family), Bruce Davison (Academy Award Nominee, Longtime Companion), Frances Fisher (Titanic) and Jessica Meraz (Major Crimes).
With fast-paced dialogue, ninety minutes fly by like the days and nights in the play — which are cleverly indicated on signs by three hilarious gardeners (Julian Armaya, Bradley Roa II and Richard Biglia) who dance into the gardens between scenes.
"Native Gardens," a satirical comedy briskly directed by Jason Alexander, is by far the best of the three productions mentioned above. Zacarías neatly focuses on the irony that some Americans who are welcoming of human immigrants - or even are immigrants -- can become virtual nativists about the plants in their gardens. The flip side? Some old-timers who are a bit wary of human beings from elsewhere are nevertheless eager to welcome imported flora into their yards.
Native Gardens is a beautifully crafted botanical metaphor that deserves more weight and exploration of the subject matter. It is lovely, but it doesn't dig deep.
Still, it is — on occasion — quite funny, it is beautiful to look at thanks to David Meyer's terrific garden set, and nobody can argue it isn't superbly acted. Now if only one didn't have to wonder if laughing was affirming something one would rather not affirm.
Karen Zacarías' new comedy Native Gardens, now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, is the perfect fit for this city's perfectly tailored green lawns and gardening lifestyle that includes the celebrated Tournament of Roses Parade. The play directed by Jason Alexander proves that just how challenging it can be to share a property line, and the what it truly means to be a good neighbor. Zacarías adeptly infuses issues of ageism, taste, race, and class into this brisk comedy that can't help but remind us of an elevated episode of I Love Lucy.
Native Gardens will have you grinning throughout our Indian summer. It's a major upper, works wonders for your disposition and is perfectly legal. Enjoy it soon!
If good fences make good neighbors, then all Frank and Virginia and Pablo and Tania would seem to need is one good fence. Discovering whether or not they get it proves well worth a visit to the Pasadena Playhouse. In these increasingly fractured times, Native Gardens is just what the laugh doctor ordered.
For a play about cultural conflict, Native Gardens is surprisingly gentle and sweet-spirited. Each of the four characters is capable of good will and reasonableness. But that's part of why the play never truly takes flight. A plot device you see coming from miles away provides the path to resolution, and it feels unnecessary. We know these folks would have worked it all out in a spirit of neighborly cooperation long before Tania's first labor pains hit. Nothing was ever really at stake.
Karen Zacarias has accomplished something crafty, as there's a prickly societal agenda lurking just behind the gentle humor. On the surface of things, "Native Gardens" is a throwback to the old days of the family-friendly 1970s-style TV sitcom as two neighboring couples fight over property lines but, beyond that, there's a gentle and hilarious morality tale of how quickly the thin veneer of civilization can wear itself off even for the most enlightened and educated among us.
With fast-paced dialogue, ninety minutes fly by like the days and nights in the play — which are cleverly indicated on signs by three hilarious gardeners (Julian Armaya, Bradley Roa II and Richard Biglia) who dance into the gardens between scenes.
"Native Gardens," a satirical comedy briskly directed by Jason Alexander, is by far the best of the three productions mentioned above. Zacarías neatly focuses on the irony that some Americans who are welcoming of human immigrants - or even are immigrants -- can become virtual nativists about the plants in their gardens. The flip side? Some old-timers who are a bit wary of human beings from elsewhere are nevertheless eager to welcome imported flora into their yards.
Native Gardens is a beautifully crafted botanical metaphor that deserves more weight and exploration of the subject matter. It is lovely, but it doesn't dig deep.
Still, it is — on occasion — quite funny, it is beautiful to look at thanks to David Meyer's terrific garden set, and nobody can argue it isn't superbly acted. Now if only one didn't have to wonder if laughing was affirming something one would rather not affirm.
Karen Zacarías' new comedy Native Gardens, now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, is the perfect fit for this city's perfectly tailored green lawns and gardening lifestyle that includes the celebrated Tournament of Roses Parade. The play directed by Jason Alexander proves that just how challenging it can be to share a property line, and the what it truly means to be a good neighbor. Zacarías adeptly infuses issues of ageism, taste, race, and class into this brisk comedy that can't help but remind us of an elevated episode of I Love Lucy.
Native Gardens will have you grinning throughout our Indian summer. It's a major upper, works wonders for your disposition and is perfectly legal. Enjoy it soon!
If good fences make good neighbors, then all Frank and Virginia and Pablo and Tania would seem to need is one good fence. Discovering whether or not they get it proves well worth a visit to the Pasadena Playhouse. In these increasingly fractured times, Native Gardens is just what the laugh doctor ordered.
For a play about cultural conflict, Native Gardens is surprisingly gentle and sweet-spirited. Each of the four characters is capable of good will and reasonableness. But that's part of why the play never truly takes flight. A plot device you see coming from miles away provides the path to resolution, and it feels unnecessary. We know these folks would have worked it all out in a spirit of neighborly cooperation long before Tania's first labor pains hit. Nothing was ever really at stake.
Karen Zacarias has accomplished something crafty, as there's a prickly societal agenda lurking just behind the gentle humor. On the surface of things, "Native Gardens" is a throwback to the old days of the family-friendly 1970s-style TV sitcom as two neighboring couples fight over property lines but, beyond that, there's a gentle and hilarious morality tale of how quickly the thin veneer of civilization can wear itself off even for the most enlightened and educated among us.
