Displaying items by tag: Sofia Tew

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble’s latest offering, Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias, is a riotous comedy that delves into the quirky world of suburban gardening and neighborly tiffs. The plot blossoms around two neighboring couples in Washington D.C. On one side, there's Pablo, a high-powered lawyer from Chile with a wealthy background, and his very pregnant wife, Tania, a doctoral candidate and avid gardener. They're ecstatic about transforming their new backyard into a vibrant native garden that attracts the right kind of insects that add to a healthy ecosystem. They are a younger couple, new to the neighborhood, with a bright future ahead.

On the other side, there's Frank and Virginia, a well-established couple with a perfectly manicured, non-native garden. Frank is laser-focused on winning the neighborhood's annual gardening competition. At first, the two couples get along swimmingly, but things take a thorny turn when Pablo and Tania discover that their property line extends two feet into Frank's cherished garden. This revelation ignites a full-blown border dispute, with both couples revealing their true colors as they clash over race, class, privilege, and taste.

As the conflict heats up, the play explores themes of cultural differences, environmentalism, and the challenges of living harmoniously with others. Despite the tension, Native Gardens ultimately offers a hopeful message about finding common ground. While there are plenty of profound moments that point out the short-comings and hypocrisies on both sides of the fence (pun intended), there are also many moments that share joint interests between the two couples, giving audience members the feeling that compromise, and even friendship, can be reached with a little effort once the egos are left at the door and true respect and understanding for each other is realized. 

The sparring couples are wonderfully cast - and are a hoot to watch! Richard Gomez and Sofia Tew are convincing as Pablo and Tania De Valle, each executing rapid fire line delivery with just the right amount of finesse and humor. Frank and Virginia Buckley are played by Bryan Burke and Kelli Walker and are fantastic together as the long-term residents who look to fend off the newcomers - despite the official survey findings. With no shortage of hilarious moments, this play has a lot of fun with generation gaps, culture clashes and of course the various things neighbors might squabble about. One won’t be able to help but get into the characters within the first few minutes and, like a freight train, the momentum of this play just keeps building as it goes.     

Keenly directed by Steve Scott, Native Garden’s delightful blend of humor and social commentary will have you laughing and reflecting long after the final curtain call. 

Nestled in the backyards of two Georgetown homes, each with contrasting landscaping visions that irk their new neighbors, you can only imagine the craziness that will ensue. Fortunately, there’s nothing for you to do but sit back and enjoy the garden wars!

Where: The Playhouse Theatre at the McAninch Arts Center (The MAC) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Additionally, the theatre is thoughtfully designed with increased accessibility features, such as elevators, wheelchair ramps, accessible seating, and assistive listening devices, making it a comfortable and inclusive venue for all attendees, including those with disabilities. Pro tip when selecting tickets - if stairs are challenging for you or your companion(s), the first row does not require any steps at all and the second row just a couple.

When: Native Gardens is running through March 2nd. 

Tickets: $44 and $42 for seniors. 

Theatre/Play Information: For tickets and/or more show information, visit http://atthemac.org/events/native-gardens/.

With an all Latino/Latina cast, Marisela Treviño Orta's 2014 one-act is brought to life with magic and wonder. The River Bride, set in a South American village along the murky and mysterious Amazon River is a romantic and touching production, which, thanks to director Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary and ingenious props created by Ellie Terrell, seems to have created a real river out of clever lighting, projection screens on the walls and a fourth wall-breaking set consisting of various docks and land areas with the audience seated so close. I could almost feel the water sweeping beneath my feet. 

In this tiny Brazilian village, we meet two sisters, Helena (Flavia Pallozi) and Belmira (Sofia Tew) who are preparing for the marriage of the younger sister Belmira to the older sister's childhood ex-boyfriend Duarte (Johnathan Nieves), which is a sad situation for the older sister.

But three days before the June wedding, Moises (Nico Fernandez U/S), a sensitive and mysteriously handsome stranger, is rescued from the river by Duarte and the girls’ kindly father, Sr. Costa, played with great love and gusto by Johnny Garcia. Once Moises is brought to the Costa’s home, life as the happy family knew begins to change as the young visitor has his eyes set on Helena.

Home to the Costa’s, their village is peaceful, charming and quite beautiful. It is the home of many fisherman, of which Sr. Costa and Duarte make their living. It is a simple place – a place where stories are shared. In this village, nested along the Amazon, an ancient myth is passed down from generation to generation regarding magical dolphins who are destined to find human love and become human in the process that are given the chance for three days each June to do the impossible! First these mermen must locate their true love, their destined human soulmate whom they will know instantly ONLY because "the very first sight of her looking into their eyes makes them feel true love in a place in their heart which has no words".  Secondly, they must convince the soulmate to marry them and third, they must place the magic wedding ring on the woman's finger by the side of the river in an act of secret marriage before sunset on the third day!

But the play is about more than such a grim fairy tale passed down, which dooms each merman to eternal and unbearable loneliness if they do not successfully seek out, find and grab hold of their own personal golden fleece, so to speak.

The play is about the complicated dynamic between sisters and the ability or inability to act for the sake of their own well-being. It's about the human in the fairy tale come true who is suddenly without notice faced with a magical, perfect love and her ingrained inability to recognize and seize the moment for herself. It’s also about the closeness of family.

I love the saucy, honeymooning chemistry between Sra. Costa and Sr. Costa, the sisters fun loving parents wonderfully played by Ana Maria Alvarez and Johnny Garcia. It should be noted that Nico Fernandez, Moises the stranger from the river, was understudying the role and had to step in with only 45-minutes notice before opening night! Fernandez, thrust into the role, did a great job creating chemistry with the two both Pollozi and Tew. The entire cast is delightful and believably creates the kind of welcoming nature one would hope to find in a close family from a quaint river village.

Along with its fine cast, there are a handful of twists and turns in this adoringly, capturing story that surprise and keep us guessing.

I really can't say enough of the cleverness of this stage design and lighting effects, which shows lightning bolts and rain on the walls and turns what once was the top floor of a Chicago church into a convincing and romantically, sensual experience of real life on the Amazon river.

I highly recommend this thought provoking, stunningly raw and romantic play which has been lovingly and lushly produced to theatergoers of all ages that wish to be transported to a magical land where fairy tales can come true, for better or worse. 

Halcyon Theatre’s The River Bride is being performed at Christ Lutheran Church, 3255 W. Wilson Ave in Chicago through June 18th. Tickets are just $20 and can be purchased at https://halcyontheatre.org/.

Warning - Do not proceed if you have not yet seen the play - Spoiler alert!

This isn't a total spoiler but it's such a great choice by the authoress, Marisela Treviño Orta', which is so brilliant and deepens the messages in this deeply affecting one act so much that I need to acknowledge this plot twist in this review. 

Although never directly stated in the play, only implied, it turns out that the blissful, everlastingly youthful and passionate love of Sra. and Sr. Costa is most likely the actual result of a successful transformation of a “dolphin king” and his true love, 

What is made clear is that Sr. Costa was also a man who appeared mysteriously by the river, on a busy fishing dock one day in a new town and wooed and married their happy mother within exactly three days in the month of June so many years before. This is crucial to me because it not only shows how the Brazilian people's modern lives are enriched by their own mythology but implies that the authoress feels some magic and mystery may still be left in the world at least where true love is concerned.

Another reason why I loved the implication is that the two sisters are the result of a magical wedding that led to a life of true love and sweet contentment, because when the sisters each make their choice - no spoiler here - the audience is made to envision and feel clearly the heavy, very real consequences of the wrong choice. 

The disbeliever or doubtful lover who makes the wrong choice results in just the opposite, a truly disastrous result – “Disastrous” from the Greek meaning "being torn from the perfect orbits of one's own fate or stars", a never ending lifetime of sadness, loneliness and discontent, perhaps a fate worse than death to people who love and treasure marriage and  their family life so much.