Review: WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER at Mosaic Theater Company

Mosaic Theater Company of DC completes its whirlwind inaugural year with WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER, a play that is relevant, engaging and sweetly funny.

The play begs us to really see those we look through all too often: fast food employees dreaming of time-and-a-half, kindhearted sanitation workers, those behind the cash register at the local convenience store.

Five lives converge just outside the 157th street subway stop at a little shop run by Nirmala (Lynette Rathnam). Her sibling Ishan (Shravan Amin) quits his job as an accountant, helps his sister run the store, and asks Nirmala to consider using her husband's life insurance money to help Ishan complete a gender transition. For Ishan to transition to Indira would not only mean a sister letting go of her ideas of her brother and her ties to her homeland, but it would mean stopping the life-support that has kept her husband alive in the years since a shooting in the store. Joe (Jason B. McIntosh), has built a passing acquaintance with Nirmala over packing crates and recycling regulations, but he longs for deeper connection. Devaun (Jeremy Keith Hunter) and Jeron (Vaughn Ryan Midder) debate the great mysteries of smart phones, women and global warming as they eke out a living on Burger King wages.

The ensemble is incredibly strong and cohesive - beginning the play as a collection of near strangers brought together by geography and happenstance then layering firm and believable connections as the work progresses. The five actors, each strong and distinct, riff and ping off each other, joining and building the work.

Lynette Rathnam is contained and controlled as Nirmala yearns to right a life that got surprisingly off-course. Sharing a huge, compassionate heart and shrewd observations, Shravan Amin transitions from Ishan to Indira, taking delight in the new body and the new reactions. Jason B. McIntosh is a steady, vulnerable, caring presence as Joe.

The interplay between Devaun and Jeron is a highlight. Jeremy Keith Hunter's physical choices - his "flashlight eyes," the dip of a shoulder or the spread of his fingers - read to the back row; they are quirky and fun without being over the top. His vocal range and high energy complete a memorable performance. Vaughn Ryan Midder (who just won an Outstanding Supporting Actor Helen Hayes Award on Monday night for his work in Constellation Theatre's AVENUE Q), while serving as a foil to Devaun's antics, grounds the pair while adding smarts, sense, and his own unique goofiness.

The play, a DC premiere by Cori Thomas, is directed by Mosaic's Managing Director and Producer Serge Seiden who directed the hit BAD JEWS at Studio Theatre and earned a Helen Hayes Award for JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS at MetroStage.

"There aren't a lot of plays that so well portray the diversity of urban life," states Seiden in notes from Mosaic Theater Company. "Cori's point of view is hopeful and loving. This play is about the serendipity of city life...the noise and rattle of subway cars, intercultural encounters on the street, and intimate relationships found in unlikely places. It's a play about very ordinary people making extraordinary decisions. It's about coming out. Coming of age. And coming together. And most importantly, it's about overcoming obstacles."

Max Doolittle's lighting, Debra Booth's scenic design and David Lamont Wilson's sound design work together to advance the story-telling. Together the design elements add an authenticity of the everyday. Yet there are simple moments - Nirmala walking to the subway to visit her husband in the hospital lit very simply from the shoulders up - that contrast with the rich wordplay and high energy of the production to allow us to pause a moment in these lives.

Cori Thomas' script aptly balances compelling characters, absorbing relationships, relevant stakes, and gorgeous language. Each character has a wonderful moment to open up and share their heart yet it is balanced by lightness and a sense of fun.

More so than many other local companies, Mosaic Theatre Company of DC builds in a wide range of opportunities for audience engagement. From discussions with bestselling author Deborah Tannen to happy hours to peace cafés to talkbacks facilitated by groups such as Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League throughout the run of the production there are many ways to build on the themes explored in the play. A listing of community engagement opportunities are listed on the Mosaic website.

The Hindu god Ganesh quietly takes a place in the production. The deity is the god of beginnings, the remover of obstacles, and the patron of wisdom. These five characters find a fresh start, different approaches and newfound wisdom. Mosaic, too, capping its first season with WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER marks a wise and auspicious beginning with a fresh and significant work.

Runtime: 2:15 including one intermission

WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKS SUMMER By Cori Thomas, directed by Serge Seiden , runs through June 12 with performances Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 pm Saturday matinees at 3 pm, Sunday matinees on May 29 and June 5 at 4 pm, Sunday evening June 12 at 7 pm, and a Thursday, June 9 matinee at 11 am. The production is at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lang Theatre, at 1333 H Street, NE, in Washington. For tickets or for more information, please see the Mosaic Theater Company of DC website here.

Photos by Stan Barouh. Images from top: Vaughn Ryan Midder as Jeron and Jeremy Keith Hunter as Devaun; next: Lynette Rathnam as Nirmala and Jason B. McIntosh as Joe; center: Jeremy Keith Hunter as Devaun and Vaughn Ryan Midder as Jeron; next: Shravan Amin as Indira and Lynette Rathnam as Nirmala; bottom: Shravan Amin as Indira and Jeremy Keith Hunter as Devaun.

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