A 5-foot-tall zucchini mysteriously appears in a small garden (well, not so mysteriously since we see it being constructed at the very beginning, out of what looks like assorted car parts). Freddy and his older brother, Sebastian, are astonished. But their grieving father immediately gloms onto the gigantic green vegetable, seeing its size and in the shape of his wife, who recently died. The brothers don’t know what to do about their dad’s odd behavior.
That’s only the outer framework of the 85-minute play “Manning,” an award-winning drama by Benjamin Benne premiering on the West Coast at San Francisco’s Crowded Fire Theater, directed by Adin Walker.
Sebastian’s stunning hawk Jasmine, created by designer and puppeteer Ixtlán, soars over the playing area, hungrily eying prey below. Occasionally she lands on Sebastian’s gloved hand and his ecstasy in those exalted moments feels palpable. “Manning” refers to training a hawk, getting it used to you. It would be interesting to know more, if there was a way to integrate it smoothly into the plot, which explores the complexities of grief.
Death is everywhere—Jasmine is predatory; Julio contemplates joining his wife in the afterlife; Sebastian has had to learn how to control the bird. Only Freddy has little to hold onto, other than the little garden he tends for his dad.
The stage business created to tell this brief story is potentially quite lovely. As the brothers bond in mourning their mother and in concern over their father, a violinist (Sarah Jiang) follows them around the stage, delicately musicalizing the emotional angst. If audiences can accept the idea of a magical vegetable fulfilling a desperate need for a man in mourning, the various elements of the play may work together for an emotionally satisfying experience.
And, under Walker’s direction, the actors are clearly accessing personal grief to fill their roles.
For example, Michael Anthony Torres, a longtime and excellent local actor, has the chops to gracefully access Julio’s overwhelming agony.
Happy-go-lucky big brother Sebastian, played by Caleb Andrew Cabrera, convincingly segues to a loving and caring brother.
But Freddy, played by Alonso Melgoza, maintains a single, tortured facial expression throughout. Such a deep depression that Freddy is experiencing has got to be more interesting than that.
This is a solemn drama, but sometimes, at least in this rendition, it feels just plain silly. How can you take seriously a man sitting on his bed and embracing a human-sized legume? Even the friction between the brothers — “Mom liked you more!”— feels forced.
But at times the dialogue rings true. At one point Sebastian says, of Jasmine, “It feels good to say ‘kill’ and then watch her kill.” It’s much more interesting than lines like “My roots reach for your roots” and some of the playwright’s other, rather maudlin, text.
Crowded Fire Theater’s “Manning” runs through Sept. 26 on Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$100 at www.crowdedfire.org.