DISPLACED review for The Ark

MTC Closes Season Up in the Air
The Marin Theatre Company is concluding its theatrical year with another premiere, the short work, Displaced, by Cuban-born playwright, Rogelio Martinez. Martinez is a prolific playwright and a writing instructor at both CCNY and the Lincoln Center Open Stage. He knows his craft. And in Displaced’s program notes, Mr. Martinez, who left Cuba when he was nine, says he has returned only in imagination. “I begin to fill in the holes that exile has created. . . I’m watching a place I once was taken from being given back to me.”

This sounds like ripe ground for planting some good, solid drama. But any premiere runs the risk of having some residual workshop quality, so real drama in Displaced never quite gets off the ground.

Even the story line is airy. Miranda and Matt, a discontented American couple, have landed in Havana after their hot air balloon lost control. Now they are stuck in this grand, decaying hotel because a hurricane is coming. And their unplanned arrival has already aroused the suspicious attentions of the handsome Serafin, a government employee. “Most people work for the government,” he explains, but his is a more important job; he was even invited to Elian’s birthday party.

Soon the scene changes to the room next door, where Amador, a has-been American writer, is trying to coax inspiration and prose from his muse, the prostitute Ana. (Later, it will be disclosed that Amador’s been having writer’s block on a script about an American couple who lands in Havana in a hot air balloon.) Ana’s attempts to soothe Amador with a sensual neck massage arouse groans of pleasure that are misunderstood by an envious Miranda in the room next door. Amador’s also carrying a number of guns, most of them stage props from old productions of Hedda Gabler.

Back in the first room, Serafin return to confront Miranda with her dossier, a brown folder that will reveal her past: “The brown folder never lies.” Unfortunately for Miranda, it’s in Spanish. Her husband Matt finally arrives in the company of Lily, a local girl who wants to go back with them to America; Matt has contrived an implausible way to make this happen. Meanwhile, the hurricane – an unusual event for December – is bearing down and threatening to ruin New Year’s Eve.

Marin Theatre Company has not skimped on this premiere. J.B. Wilson’s hotel set is not only handsome, it’s serviceable. (It takes quite a pounding in the second act.) Oddly mismatched lightbulbs in the chandelier are a fine reminder of tough times.

A recognized pro, Displaced’s director, Amy Glazer, keeps the action brisk and varied, but even she seemed to be stumped by many short scenes between the two identical hotel rooms. She accomplishes the “blackouts” with revolving colored lights and over-amped sound.

Many in the cast will be remembered from previous productions. Darren Bridgett has played several large roles at MTC and at the Marin Shakespeare Company. His character, Matt, is almost invisible in this one. Jarion Monroe, the depressive Amador, was half the cast in the recent production of Old Wicked Songs. In Charlie Cox Runs with Scissors, Isabelle Ortega captivated the audience with her kinetic depiction of Kiki, the blind love goddess. Here, Ortega’s Lily has a brief, wiggly, bed-top dance, but not much else to do.

Jamie Jones portrays the mercurial longings of Miranda, Johnny Moreno is Serafin, the government man, and Maria Grazia Affinito plays Ana, the ghostwriter and working girl.

There’s big talent in this production, but a soft script. This playwright needs to stop being Ayckbourn and start being Martinez. Then show the audience what it’s really like to be displaced.

Displaced will be at the Marin Theatre Company through June 11, 397 Miller Avenue in Mill Valley. For complete information, call 388-5208 or see www.marintheatre.org.