BWW Reviews: Virago's SONIA FLEW Finely Crafted, Must-See Theatre

Virago Theatre Company steps boldly and passionately into heart-wrenching territory with its production of Sonia Flew, the dramatic story of a Cuban born woman who is forced to deal with her revolution ravaged childhood when she learns that her 18-year-old American son has enlisted and is headed off to war, post 9/11. Up until this point, Sonia has lived quite successfully without revealing, even to her beloved husband Daniel, that she was one of thousands of Cuban children who came to the US as an unaccompanied minor in a mass exodus dubbed Operation Pedro Pan. Playwright Melinda Lopez deftly fuses fiction with history to bring us a tale of heartache, betrayal and even possibly redemption. Playing now through June 1 at The Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco, Sonia Flew is one of the most finely crafted dramatic productions of recent note here in the bay area.

The best thing about this show is the absolute cohesiveness of the ensemble cast. Laura Lundy-Paine's masterful direction brings them together in such a binding, almost lyrical way that the audience is held rapt for the entire show. Such seamless symmetry is rare, especially when each actor plays a completely different character in Act II. Costume designer Kelly Rauch disguises this fact very well, using hats and headdresses, color and design, to full effect. The rest of the magic was created by incredible performances.

Olivia B. Chavez opens the show as a ghost of her former self - Pilar, the mother of Sonia. "They say that only God can give life and only God can take it away" she says plaintively. "But they are men. And they have never given life. I have. Does that make me God? I have a daughter..." Thusly, playwright Melinda Lopez opens the show, evoking a sense of loss and piercing sadness right away.

Then suddenly we're in Daniel (John Hurst) and Sonia's (Tess Koning-Martinez) Minneapolis home where the mood is light even though it's December 2001 right after 9/11. It's Hanukah and Christmas in this nominally Jewish/Christian home and Daniel has gone to the airport to pick up his father, Sam (Donald Currie) who is arriving from Florida. A Christmas tree covered in Star of David decorations graces the living room.

Strangely the set (Cheryl Brodzinsky) is dark and colorless and looks more like the 70's than a post 9/11 home. It doesn't help that Sonia is fretting about the ingredients for 7-Up salad - a traditional family favorite that harkens back to a time before either of her teens, eldest son Zak (Jorge Orozco) and daughter Jen (Katie Robbins) were born.

The slice of life dialogue is banal, funny and familiar, easing us into Sonia's comfortable, middle-class life and leaving us to wonder about the ghostly beginning of the show. Koning Martinez is superb in the role of a wife and mother whose world has suddenly been shaken by 9/11 uncertainty. The traumatic events have caused a rupture in her otherwise normal existence, but only her darting eyes and too bright façade hint at the secret that has lain like a sleeping beast inside her heart for so long. Anxious about Daniel and his dad's delay she decides to go out and get the ingredients for her salad.

Upon her return and after the arrival of her husband and his father, she learns that her idealistic son is going to enlist; his patriotism sparked by 9/11. Suddenly all the pain of Sonia's past pours out, but without explanation. Her instinct is to keep Zak close and out of harm's way even as she realizes that her own parents had to send her away to keep her safe.

Sonia's husband and family are left to wonder at the strength of her anger - but how can she explain the raw feelings of helplessness that her son's announcement has awakened without opening the gaping wound in her psyche?

War is hell as Zak quickly finds out. Elle Ghini's light design pops like pyrotechnics as Zak and fellow female soldier Nina (Olivia B. Chavez again) are hit with bombs.

Act I closes with a bang. In Act II we leave present day Minnesota for humid Havana where Castro has recently come into power. Now we are in the home of Orfeo (Currie) and Pilar (Chavez). It's April of 1961 and young Sonia (played marvelously by Katie Robbins) is an idealistic teen whose patriotism is sparked by the revolution. In this she is like her future son and now we know where her parental angst comes from. She recognized the glint in Zak's eyes because it had matched her own youthful and misplaced idealism.

It is here in Act II that Lopez's play truly comes to life in the hands of this gifted cast. Slowly the misery of a mother and father forced to make a horrific decision gets played out before our very eyes. Lundy-Paine builds the tension into each moment as a normal birthday celebration for Sonia slowly turns into an occasion for fear and then action.

In addition to birthday festivities Sonia is getting ready to attend a Castro youth rally. Her father Orfeo (Donald Currie) comes home after having just witnessed a fellow professor being dragged away by the new regime. He's scared but clings to the fact that he knows a Castro insider, old family friend Tito, played with suave repulsiveness by John Hurst. All too soon they realize that Tito cannot be counted on to protect them and Pilar quietly hatches a plan with Marta to secure Sonia's safety. A defeated Orfeo fights his wife's plan as long as he can but finally he succumbs.

Each actor so clearly delineates their character and so thoroughly embodies their role that even in the midst of the terror they are depicting they are a joy to behold. Chavez is absolutely riveting as the mother who sees the writing on the wall and, though she knows she will not survive the loss of her daughter, does what she has to do. Her quiet calm belies a just-under-the-surface rage but she is fearless. Koning Martinez gives a superb turn as the maid and it is her imprisoned husband's handy-work, left behind in her care that supplies the means of escape for Sonia.

Bitter, disillusioned, angry and unforgiving, Sonia is put on a plane, never to see her parents again. Under normal circumstances her teenage rebellion would have been par for the course but now it spells the last thing her parents will ever know of her and it is this, more than anything else that has eaten away at Sonia all these many years later. Now she realizes that she survived because of the fateful decision her parents made for her - but will her relationship with her son survive her painful past? You'll have to go see the show to find out.

Sonia Flew
Written by Melinda Lopez
Directed by Laura Lundy-Paine
Now through June 1, 2013
The Phoenix Theatre
414 Mason St., 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA
A Virago Theatre Company Production
www.viragotheatre.org
Photo courtesy of Virago Theatre

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