Hillcrest company gains rights to ‘The Little Flower of East Orange’ for 7th season

By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Reporter

The New York Times calls playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis a “savage sentimentalist.” And what is more sentimental than writing a memory-play about family? As for onstage savagery, there’s no time like the present to check it out.

After trying for three years, Hillcrest’s ion theatre company, known for its own brand of savagery, at last obtained rights to Guirgis’s 2008 Broadway play, “The Little Flower of East Orange.” The production, which critic Ben Brantley said possesses “mad operatic grandeur,” plays at ion’s BLKBOX Sunday, Nov. 11 to Dec. 8, with opening night on Nov. 17. It is co-directed by Glenn Paris and Claudio Raygoza, partners in the theater and in life.

Guirgis, who is a co-artistic director of New York’s LAByrinth Theatre, also wrote “Our Lady of 121st Street,” “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train,” “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings” and, most recently, “The Motherfucker With the Hat.” In 2005 Al Germani’s Lynx Theatre produced “‘A’ Train” and “In Arabia,” and “Our Lady” was seen at the Adams Avenue Studio. In 2010 Triad produced “Judas Iscariot” at 10th Avenue Theatre. All of Guirgis’ full-length plays except “The Hat” and “Little Flower” have yet to be seen in San Diego.

“Guirgis is a terrific writer, very New York, with a real gift for writing,” Paris said. “He writes provocative plays with tough issues and tough characters. This is a mother-son play. The mother is ailing and the son returns [from rehab] in an attempt to resolve issues relating to past trauma.”

Paris said the theme of failed resolution is one of the reasons he identifies with the play. “I’m grown up enough to have shared lives with others who have had issues, were unable to resolve them and moved on to the next life embittered. That’s tragic,” he said.

Impelled by her son Danny (played by Jeffrey Jones), the mother (Trina Kaplan) – the “little flower” of the title – moves toward catharsis through exploring her childhood. In his review, New York Times writer Ben Brantley called “The Little Flower of East Orange” a “tale of mother love and its discontents.”

“Guirgis writes from a distinct lack of convention [with] lots of pieces that depart from the norm,” Paris said. “We refer to it as a scrapbook. Danny is the narrator. The action begins in the present, moves backward in time, and then jumps forward again.”

He refers to the play as a “Big Secret” production, meaning audiences are in for a “wild, unconventional” ending, he said, although he will not give away any spoilers. “The secret is not revealed until late in the play, which is … written in differing styles and is a challenge for both directors and actors.”

There is no doubt that Paris and Raygoza love this work after becoming acquainted with it initially through reviews of the LAByrinth production. When the play moved to Broadway, they were able to obtain the script, which they have read and discussed ever since. Twice they got production rights, and then Guirgis decided he wanted to keep working on the play.

“We think it’s because the play is so deeply personal for him,” Paris said of the delays. “This year as we put the season together, we again phoned his agent. Ultimately, Stephen [Guirgis] said that we could do the play [as is]. We’re very excited. I think he was impressed by our persistence.”

Others in the company are Yolanda Franklin, Diep Huynh, Catalina Maynard, Melinda Miller, Durwood Murray and Walter Ritter, as well as Paris and Raygoza.

After previews on Sunday, Nov. 11, Thursday, Nov. 15 and Friday, Nov. 16, “Little Flower of East Orange” plays Nov. 17 and 24 at 4 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.; and Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. Following those dates, the production runs Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., and Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. from Nov.  29 – Dec. 8. The BLKBOX theater is located at 3704 Sixth Ave. For more information or tickets visit iontheatre.com or call 619-600-5020.