Southwest Story
To begin its landmark twentieth anniversary season, Matrix Theatre Company revives one of its first original productions: 1995’s Southwest Story. This contemporary take on the Romeo and Juliet story pays homage to its most famous predecessors, both Shakespeare’s text and the New York youth of West Side Story; however, the text is not just a translation of an old play to a contemporary setting, but a true adaptation in its own right. As directed by Mona Lucius, this production (staged at the Boll Family Theatre within the downtown Detroit YMCA) threads present-day issues through the timeless relatability of illicit young love, in an enlightening and easily relatable tale.
Here, we lay our scene in fair Southwest Detroit, at a busy intersection that puts the Nuñez family’s corner market and liquor store in opposition with Reverend Turner’s neighborhood church. In close keeping with the beats of the Shakespeare text, the opening scenes introduce the viewer to young Cristina Nuñez (Maria Romo) and Andrae Turner (Damon Whitman), then introduces them to each other when Andrae and his friends crash Cristina’s quinceañera (the Latino predecessor to the sweet sixteen party). The young lovers are beset by obstacles — manifest in Cristina’s cousin, Tomas (Justino Solis), who carries the parents’ feud with him into the younger generation — but also find allies — in particular, wise but insouciant Nicky (Monique Coleman) and Sister Rice (Rubelhia Aleman), a groovy old hippie with a catalog of quirks. The fifteen-year-old script (which was collaboratively penned by Wes Nethercott and a large group of students) has now seen some obvious updates, introducing Facebook and cell phones in thoughtful ways that thoroughly complement the storytelling.
The cell phone interruptions fall to sound designer Andrea Scobie, who supplements the characterizations with custom ringtones; it’s one faction of a strong production design that helps the play flow without bowing to literalism that would bog down the action in its many settings. Gwen Lindsay’s scenic design uses raised areas to set apart the opposing store and church, but leaves the space void of walls or doors; together with Neil Koivu’s instructive lighting scheme, the setup allows the action to flow over and through the set with clarity, which Lucius uses to her advantage in easily maneuvering scenes from place to place. Properties design by Julanne Jacobs contributes details only when needed, which suits the shifting, driving trajectory of the play’s many short scenes. Cal Schwartz’s costume design triumphs at the quinceañera, as does Horacio Bautista’s demonstrative choreography, which capitalizes on Romo’s demonstrative physicality. In a different context, safety is a clear objective when the young performers partake in an escalating scene of violence, thanks to simple but effective fight choreography by David Blixt.
The large ensemble cast features a number of illuminating performances by young actors, including several Matrix Teen Company members. Together, Romo and Whitman are achingly sweet; their infatuation and thrilling love (despite hardly knowing each other) is made amply believable by their innocent conviction. Plot foil Coleman blends delightful immaturity with level-headed understanding of the gravity of her friends’ predicament, and Solis uses the accumulated small opportunities provided him by the script to create a believable antagonist out of a frequently sidelined character. Even so, some of the most spellbinding moments belong to the parents; an early scene with fathers Reverend Turner (Bernard Causey) and Raul Nuñez (Maurizio Rosas-Dominguez) is notable for its thinly veiled hostility and use of racism to gain the upper hand. Causey also plays a central role in a beautifully understated scene of grief, singing together with Taurean Hogan as part of a tremendously mournful pair of tableaux.
In all, Southwest Story is a reverent and faithful adaptation of Romeos and Juliets before, whose contemporary take speaks to issues of present and local conflict without detracting from the love story at its heart. Romeo and Juliet expectations are well met in this production, but the passion of the young performances and the recognizable ties to cultural rifts that remain in Southwest Detroit (and beyond) allow Matrix to make this iteration truly its own.
October 23, 2011