Mo'olelo Review Mar07

The Adoption Project: Triad has all the earmarks of a Mo'olelo Performing Arts production: a socially relevant, emotionally fraught story; a script laced with humor and nonrealistic elements; a strong, deeply committed cast.

Staged in the wide-open spaces of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, the new play by Kimber Lee focuses on three women who form the primal triad of the title.

The adoptee is Aggie, a hip, thirty-something ad writer increasingly determined to find her birth mother.

The adoptive mother is Bernice, a fragile person, whose backstory includes many miscarriages followed by a privileged life devoted to Aggie; she and her husband joyously adopted the girl in a traditional legal process involving "closed" records.

The birth mother is Madeleine, a plucky Midwesterner coerced into giving up her baby when she was 19 and now a reasonably happy married woman haunted by that missing piece of her life.

Mo'olelo founder Seema Sueko directed the pitch-perfect cast—Jo Anne Glover as restless Aggie, Sandy Campbell as delicate Bernice, and Linda Libby as Madeleine.

Lee structures her play as a collage of voices with the three actors playing many other roles, some of them comic. Campbell, for instance, dons a bouffant blond wig and red power blazer to become Barbara Walters; these parody scenes about a reductive TV special on adoption inspire some of Lee's best writing. Libby plays a Marx Brothers-style judge and an Internet-savvy stoner guy pal of Aggie. And when Glover's not playing Aggie, she struts about as Bernice's husband.

Given the primal nature of so many emotions surrounding birth and adoption, Sueko wisely employed choreographer Erika Malone to create dance sequences to express unspoken feelings. Malone's simple, gestural choreography teases out that unseen relationship between the birth mother and adoptive mother who — in this particular case, and most others— have never met one another.

Another dance sequence involves a diaphanous white dress with tendril-like arms that connect Bernice and her adopted daughter, Aggie, even as Madeleine "disappears" from the dress, leaving an empty space, a sort of question mark, between them. Sound designer Paul Peterson's well-chosen musical interludes underscore the movement without overwhelming it.

With the subject very much in the news these days because of the boom in Chinese and celebrity adoptions, The Adoption Projec" nonetheless roots itself in an earlier era when pregnant girls, especially in Catholic families, were exiled to homes for "unwed mothers" and babies were, as a matter of course, "given up" for adoption within days of birth.

The cruelty of that system, wrapped in coercive silence and shame, is one potent theme in Lee's script, and Libby movingly embodies the agony of so many young women up against a system that judged as selfish any wish to keep and raise a child outside of marriage. Social and moral conventions were protected, not the feelings of the mother.

Campbell, best known for her crystalline soprano in musical theater, displays an impressive range in her dramatic and comic roles here. And Glover, who's quickly become one of the city's most reliable and in-demand young actors, adds another sharply delineated portrayal to her credits. The three wring a great deal of feeling and perspective from the somewhat abstract characterizations in Lee's script.

This is a women's story, with the fathers ˆ and possible siblings and half-siblings of adoptees ˆ intentionally beyond its focus.

The presentational nature of the staging is a throwback to feminist work of the '70s and '80s: many monologues orbiting round or overlapping one another, slide projections and multilayered visual effects.

In keeping with Mo'olelo's social mission, The Adoption Project: Triad will serve as a conversation-starter. For those outside the Triad, the thoughtful piece brings home inevitable feelings of loss experienced by all three in what Lee so rightly names the "Triad."

Perhaps more significantly, it's possible that uneasy adoptees may bring their adoptive families to the Centro, there to begin dialogue about finding the missing pieces that may upset everyone's equilibrium for a time, but can also make families feel whole again.

The Adoption Project: Triad
7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through April 1; Mo'olelo Performing Arts at Centro Cultural de la Raza; 2125 Park Blvd., Balboa Park; $25; (619) 342-7395; www.moolelo.net

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	THEATER REVIEW: Emotions rule The Adoption Project By Anne Marie Welsh THEATER CRITIC March 19, 2007 The Adoption Project: Triad has all the earmarks of a Mo'olelo Performing Arts production: a socially relevant, emotionally fraught story; a script laced with humor and nonrealistic elements; a strong, deeply committed cast. Staged in the wide-open spaces of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, the new play by Kimber Lee focuses on three women who form the primal triad of the title. The adoptee is Aggie, a hip, thirty-something ad writer increasingly determined to find her birth mother. The adoptive mother is Bernice, a fragile person, whose backstory includes many miscarriages followed by a privileged life devoted to Aggie; she and her husband joyously adopted the girl in a traditional legal process involving "closed" records. The birth mother is Madeleine, a plucky Midwesterner coerced into giving up her baby when she was 19 and now a reasonably happy married woman haunted by that missing piece of her life. Mo'olelo founder Seema Sueko directed the pitch-perfect cast—Jo Anne Glover as restless Aggie, Sandy Campbell as delicate Bernice, and Linda Libby as Madeleine. Lee structures her play as a collage of voices with the three actors playing many other roles, some of them comic. Campbell, for instance, dons a bouffant blond wig and red power blazer to become Barbara Walters; these parody scenes about a reductive TV special on adoption inspire some of Lee's best writing. Libby plays a Marx Brothers-style judge and an Internet-savvy stoner guy pal of Aggie. And when Glover's not playing Aggie, she struts about as Bernice's husband. Given the primal nature of so many emotions surrounding birth and adoption, Sueko wisely employed choreographer Erika Malone to create dance sequences to express unspoken feelings. Malone's simple, gestural choreography teases out that unseen relationship between the birth mother and adoptive mother who — in this particular case, and most others— have never met one another. Another dance sequence involves a diaphanous white dress with tendril-like arms that connect Bernice and her adopted daughter, Aggie, even as Madeleine "disappears" from the dress, leaving an empty space, a sort of question mark, between them. Sound designer Paul Peterson's well-chosen musical interludes underscore the movement without overwhelming it. With the subject very much in the news these days because of the boom in Chinese and celebrity adoptions, The Adoption Projec" nonetheless roots itself in an earlier era when pregnant girls, especially in Catholic families, were exiled to homes for "unwed mothers" and babies were, as a matter of course, "given up" for adoption within days of birth. The cruelty of that system, wrapped in coercive silence and shame, is one potent theme in Lee's script, and Libby movingly embodies the agony of so many young women up against a system that judged as selfish any wish to keep and raise a child outside of marriage. Social and moral conventions were protected, not the feelings of the mother. Campbell, best known for her crystalline soprano in musical theater, displays an impressive range in her dramatic and comic roles here. And Glover, who's quickly become one of the city's most reliable and in-demand young actors, adds another sharply delineated portrayal to her credits. The three wring a great deal of feeling and perspective from the somewhat abstract characterizations in Lee's script. This is a women's story, with the fathers ˆ and possible siblings and half-siblings of adoptees ˆ intentionally beyond its focus. The presentational nature of the staging is a throwback to feminist work of the '70s and '80s: many monologues orbiting round or overlapping one another, slide projections and multilayered visual effects. In keeping with Mo'olelo's social mission, The Adoption Project: Triad will serve as a conversation-starter. For those outside the Triad, the thoughtful piece brings home inevitable feelings of loss experienced by all three in what Lee so rightly names the "Triad." Perhaps more significantly, it's possible that uneasy adoptees may bring their adoptive families to the Centro, there to begin dialogue about finding the missing pieces that may upset everyone's equilibrium for a time, but can also make families feel whole again. The Adoption Project: Triad 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through April 1; Mo'olelo Performing Arts at Centro Cultural de la Raza; 2125 Park Blvd., Balboa Park; $25; (619) 342-7395; www.moolelo.net Home \| News \| Calendar \| Directory \| Library \| Plays Copyright 2007, Roger W. Tang Questions? Email

THEATER REVIEW: Emotions rule The Adoption Project