Native Gardens
Written by Karen Zacarias
Directed by Amy Gonzalez
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA
Until September 16, 2018
Even before the play begins, the set of Karen Zacarias’ play Native Gardens tells a story.
The backyards of two townhouses sit side by side. On the left is a neat, orderly garden and patio, with furniture, flowers, and grass arranged just so, suggesting that whoever lives there lives by the rules. On the right is a similar structure that needs TLC but it is appealing in its unkempt wildness, including an impressively real-looking huge oak tree overhanging the neighbors' yard. Big kudos to set designer Andrea Bechert for an amazing feat of stage construction, with real mulch, flowers, and feel.
Native Gardens explores how we protect our personal spaces with protective but not necessarily impermeable boundaries, something that any homeowner realizes about the realities of property lines, laws and history.
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Tania (Marlene Martinez) and Pablo (Michael Evans Lopez) visualize their new space |
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Frank (Jackson Davis) and Virginia (Amy Resnick) check out the new neighbors |
As good neighbors, Tania and Pablo seek the approval of their established neighbors Frank (a composed yet finicky Jackson Davis) and Virginia (an inviting yet fierce Amy Resnick). The four get together in Frank and Virginia's yard, and usual chit chat unveils differences of opinion and attitude, as when Frank reveals how he douses his garden with pesticides amid other finicky actions to prepare for the annual garden competition, behavior that is anathema to Tania in sense of protection for the environment.
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Tania and Pablo chat with Virginia and Frank |
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Virginia (Amy Resnick) and Frank (Jackson Davis) literally hold their ground against PO-Pablo (Michael Evans Lopez) and Tania (Marlene Martinez) |
Native Gardens
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Until September 16, 2018
Photography by Kevin BerneCAST
Pablo — Michael Evans Lopez*
Tania — Marlene Martinez*
Virginia — Amy Resnick*
Frank — Jackson Davis*
Landscaper — Laura Espino
Landscaper — Mauricio Suarez
PRODUCTION TEAM
Scenic Designer — Andrea Bechert
Costume Designer — Noah Marin
Lighting Designer — Steven B. Mannshardt
Sound Designer — Jeff Mockus
Casting Director — Jeffrey Lo
Los Angeles Casting Director — Julia Flores
Stage Manager — Sara Sparks*
Assistant Stage Manager — Amy Smith Goodman*
*Equity Members