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Sonia Flew
By Melinda Lopez
Directed by Jessica Thebus
At Steppenwolf Theatre
1650 N. Halsted Street
Chicago, IL
Call 312-335-1650, tickets $20 - $65
Tuesdays through Sundays at 7:30 PM
Saturday & Sunday matinees at 3 PM
Special Wednesday matinees at 2 PM
January 17, 24 & 31, 2007
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through February 4, 2007
New voice sheds light on role of the past in shaping the future
Boston based playwright Melindia Lopez’s Sonia Flew, in its Midwest premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre, is an engaging, well structured drama that weaves several themes into an interesting story of the immigrant experience in America. It also deals with the pain of abandonment, the folly of youth and generational differences in modern American life. Lopez’s contemporary family has a Cuban mother (Sandra Marquez) getting ready to celebrate both Hanukah and Christmas since she married a Jew and she is Catholic. When her son Zak (Andrew Perez) announces that he is enlisting in the Marines to fight in Afghanistan, Sonia’s world collapses. Even the arrival of Sam (Alan Wilder), the Jewish grandfather and her husband Daniel (Jeff Still) and her daughter Jen (Sandra Delgado) can’t soothe her depression. This event threatens her family security and fuels her back 40 years to Cu ba.
Act one’s tension comes from Sonia’s strong feelings against Zak’s going to war. We can’t understand Sonia’s feelings completely since she has not spoken about her past rage. The entire family has trouble understanding her even though her husband Dan struggles to support her. She has keep her secret for years and this new threat ignites thoughts back to Cuba in 1961.
Act two is set back in Havana in 1961 that finds a 15 year old Sonia (Sandra Delgado) struggling with loyalty to her family and her new political environment as Castro installs a communist state in Cuba. We see how the atmosphere in Havana isn’t healthy for college professor and his family. Once his family is threatened, Sonia’s mother and father (Vilma Silva & Alan Wilder) plot to get her out of Cuba. Sonia becomes apart of Operation Pedro Pan—a plan to smuggle out thousands of children from Cuba to the US. Sonia doesn’t want to leave Cuba and she so strongly resents being sent away that she flushes down the toilet on the plane the family treasures she is given vowing “I do not forgive You. I will never forgive you,” (to her parents). She feels abandoned by her family despite being told that she’ll only be away for a few months and maybe a year. Here is where I lose empathy with Sonia. She seems to be over reacting to being sent to America. Why? Cuba isn’t so great and she knows that.
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But when her son joins the Marines, her feeling of abandonment and betrayal reemerges. Her son threatens the security of the family by going to war just as her being sent to the USA breaks up her original family. We see the rituals of emerging American life at play, yet Sonia can’t deal with her memories. The past does shape the future and an act of parental selflessness isn’t necessarily abandonment but a necessity. Sonia’s struggles are excellently presented here.
Scenic designer Stephanie Nelson has a two family room sets—one for modern America and one for 1960’s Cuba centered around space for projection designer Stephan Mazurel’s marvelous photos depicting the time an eras in Cuba and America. These production values together with the excellent cast that features strong work from Sandra Marques, Jeff Still, Alan Wilder, Andrew Perez, Vilma Silva and Sandra Delgado give Sonia Flew many moments of poignancy.
Sonia’s struggles with her past and her silence about them cause her much pain until she realizes that she must reconcile her past as the future demands. This is an intelligent work with a different take on the immigrant experience in America. The play gave me food for thought about how the world shapes our families.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date reviewed: December 9, 2006
Jeff Recommended
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