Review by Neal Newman
September 18, 2022
People’s Light has opened a world premiere bilingual production of MUSHROOM, featuring an imported company of mostly Latinx performers. Malvern theatergoers may be unaware that nearby Kennett Square is called the mushroom capital of the world. Most of the workers are migrants, and many are undocumented. Elisa Davis’s new play explores the lives, tragedies, and challenges facing these people.
She creates a memorable group of human beings. Ignacio (Michael G. Martinez) came to America as a very young man, succeeded in three business ventures, and now runs his own construction company. He is terrified of being deported. Epifanio (Angel Sigala) has been injured at work, but no worker’s comp exists. Will he begin selling drugs or perhaps report a relative in exchange for a green card? Natarajan (Ahsan Ali) received a first-rate education in India and has a well-paying job designing electronics. But he is undocumented and cannot return home. He is having an affair with Edit, who has worked all her life to become a nurse. But the lack of documents will hinder her dream of helping people. The one gringo (Todd Lawson) has just inherited a mushroom plant and is clueless.
Author Davis is also a poet, and the play features many impressive soliloquies (the translator is Georgina Escobar). These a mostly delivered by Janice Amaya, who plays the narrator.
The entire cast is expert and performs the bilingual dialogue with ease. For example, Lety (Laura Crotte), Edit’s mother, does not speak English. Projection designer Yee Eun Nam provides lighting fast translations on four screens. The speed and shifting of the eyes are a strain for those not gifted with Spanish or English but are effective for the play.
People’s Light has not only brought in actors of color, but the entire team from designers, director, and stage management are making their local debuts.
Director David Mendizabal has his hands full with the many scenes and locations provided by the playwright. There are frequent moments when we don’t know the location or what is going on, but he has obviously directed fine performances. The set by Efren Delgadillo Jr is striking, with a stage covered with gravel/dirt, along with the Walmart effective costumes by Rodrigo Munoz. Both designers fail the Indian character Natarajan who is of a different social class, but this is not delineated. The effective musical score is by David R. Molina.
This world premiere is not perfect. The running time is three and one-half hours, and playwright Davis frequently resorts to didactic speechifying. The result is an unsatisfactory combination of a Brechtian teaching play and a traditional story play. This viewer hopes for a shorter version that will hide the teaching inside more vibrant and concise scenes involving these engaging characters.
MUSHROOM is very demanding but also very necessary.
Running time: 3 1/2 hours with intermission. Masks required.
MUSHROOM plays through October 16022, 2 at People’s Light – 39 Conestoga Road in Malvern, PA. Call the box office at (610) 644-3500 or purchase tickets online.