From left, Jess Barbagallo as David, Ray Anthony Thomas as Norman, Marcia DeBonis as Sheryl, and Sean Donovan as Jared star in Agnes Borinsky’s new play, The Trees, at Playwrights Horizons.
Agnes Borinsky’s The Trees is a quirky and ambitious new play that may please some environmentalists and Thoreau-minded folk, but many theatergoers may find it hard to warm up to this work, populated with a dozen characters, many of whom flit in and out of the play in will-o’-the-wisp fashion. Directed by Tina Satter, The Trees investigates the American dream and questions whether stability is possible in a capitalistic world.
From left: Nile Harris plays Julian, Thomas is Norman, and Danusia Trevino is the Polish grandmother in The Trees, directed by Tina Satter. Photographs by Chelcie Parry.
Set in Connecticut in the present day, the play focuses on two siblings in their mid-30s: a filmmaker, David (Jess Barbagallo), and a Seattle-based architect, Sheila (the delightful Crystal Dickinson), who, returning from a party, fall asleep in a local park next to their father’s house, and awaken with their feet rooted to the ground. Their bizarre predicament, once discovered by family, friends, and eventually strangers, results in a utopian community springing up around them.
Without a traditional plot, The Trees relies mostly on the meditations of its two principals and supporting characters to propel it forward. But the play presents such a motley assortment of characters that all the voices blur into confusion: the play suffers from a surplus of words and a paucity of action.
The prologue contains the most arresting scene, as the audience witnesses the slightly tipsy siblings undergo a double metamorphosis that Ovid himself would approve. Enhanced by Parker Lutz’s minimalist set, which includes two sunken areas that keep David and Sheila’s feet anchored to the stage floor, this sci-fi scene won’t be topped by any other episode in the show.
Crystal Dickinson plays Sheila, and Sam Breslin Wright is the Vendor.
As the play proper begins, the stage is washed in Thomas Dunn’s bright light, making it easy to see how family, friends, and eventually strangers react to David and Sheila’s fixed physicality. There is 35-year-old Charlotte (Becky Yamamoto), a harried mother of two young children, and one of Sheila’s oldest friends, who deals with the crisis in a very practical way: “I’m going to get you guys a trash can,” she remarks, and she makes a run to the local Target store.
Less empathetic is David’s long-time lover Jared (the superb Sean Donovan), who works in the mayor’s Office for Development, and realizes upon seeing his partner planted in the ground that he’s unable to remain in their romantic relationship. Or, as he coldly tells David, “It’s sort of hard to say this. But I think I want to call it off. For good.” Nevertheless, Jared won’t disappear altogether and will serve as a kind of advisor after they learn that the park is the projected site of a new mall.
The oldest do-gooder in the play is David and Sheila’s Polish-speaking grandmother (Danusia Trevino), who has survived pogroms, fires, heartbreak, and more. Although she has the aches and pains of advancing age, she’s ready to help her earthbound grandchildren with her magic spells and a high-tech camping stove.
Once the newspapers broadcast David and Sheila’s story, people begin to make pilgrimages to Connecticut to meet the siblings, and a utopian community springs up around them. And, as the weeks, months, and years pass, this community is somehow sustained in the park, a cross-section of people, all of whom want to offer support for the human trees. Perhaps the most eloquent visitor is the 36-year-old Saul (Max Gordon Moore), a rabbi of a small synagogue in Cleveland who takes a 10-hour bus ride to tell David and Sheila that their morphing into human trees is somehow part of God’s providential plan: “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I think what happened here is a miracle.”
From left: Max Gordon Moore as Saul, Thomas as Norman, and Dickinson as Sheila in The Trees.
One of the best lines in the play, is a question posed to David and Sheila by the spunky character Sheryl (the high-spirited Marcia Debonis), member of the Shul Sisterhood at Saul’s former congregation: “Can I ask how you identify? As people? Or trees?” Without missing a beat, David and Sheila both respond that “we’re people.” It’s a shame that this “trans question” isn’t teased out more in Borinsky’s script, as it could well bring another dimension to this absurdist play.
The able acting of the troupe keeps this almost two-hour play from dragging. And Enver Chakartash’s costumes, in rainbow, plaid, and pastel hues, add visual pizzazz to the proceedings.
Ultimately, Borinsky’s epic about siblings stuck in the ground falls short of its aspirations. While it succeeds in getting across the vital importance of community, the play would gain more power if it were pruned of a few supporting characters.
Playwrights Horizons and Page 73 Productions’ presentation of The Trees runs at Playwrights Horizons’ Mainstage Theater (416 W. 42nd St.) through March 19. Evening performances are at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; matinees are at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and information, visit playwrightshorizons.org or telecharge.com.
