IT HAPPENED AT THE ZOO

REVIEW: AT HOME AT THE ZOO

BY RYAN LUÉVANO

Just last September the world lost the great American playwright Edward Albee who had bestowed upon us so many wonderful plays most notably: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Now the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts has teamed up with Deaf West Theatre to present a work that launched his career as a playwright when it was presented in Germany in 1960: The Zoo Story, later turned incorporated to At Home at the Zoo. 

Amber Zion. Photo Credit: Kevin Parry.

Following the first act audiences can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next, that’s because the first act stands on it’s own as a single play and it’s also because Albee is know for writing Theater of the Absurd—theater that deranges traditional storytelling. At Home at the Zoo is in fact two plays combined into one. The two plays are The Zoo Story (1959) and its prequel, Homelife (2004), both plays feature the main character Peter, a publishing executive.

The entire first act is a scene between Peter, and his wife Ann having a discussion in their living room. The discussion begins simply enough, then turns from a matter-of-fact discussion to a deep conversation about the dissatisfactions regarding their marriage. The second act begins the same way, but now Peter’s on a park bench and a transient sparks a conversation with him.

Amber Zion and Troy Kotsur. Photo Credit: Kevin Parry.

What Deaf West Theatre has accomplished in its mission is to create opportunities for deaf actors is astounding. This production of At Home at the Zoo is proof positive that what they’re doing is incredible for audiences and actors alike. The format of the production is that the deaf actors portray the main character speaking the lines in American Sign Language (ASL) and with them either on stage, or off to the side are ASL Masters who verbally translate the all the aspects of the actors in intent. What results is something that’s a mix of verbal and nonverbal communication adding a whole new level for experiencing a dramatic play—it’s poetry in motion.

Peter played by Troy Kotsur is a simple quiet man who in both acts is simply trying to take some time for himself to read a book. Yet also both times he is interrupted by people who have something very important to tell him, and each instance he stops what he doing to lends them an ear. Kotsur is mesmerizing to watch—everything he does is in the spirit of Peter’s bourgeois, self-satisfied character. He doesn’t speak a word yet fully express his what’s feeling and who he is a way that fully captivating. It’s not until the end of the play that his cold, comfortable, ordinary existence is coerced into seeing the reality of the world around him and Kostur makes this a moment you’ll never forget.

Troy Kotsur and Russell Harvard. Photo Credit: Kevin Parry.

Peter’s wife Ann played by Amber Zion is coy, then fierce in her conversation with her husband. Through every move she make we see her give way to the animal lust that she craves from her husband—she circles Peter like prey and goes in for the kill only to be disappointed in the end. Jerry (Russell Harvard) who appears in the second act is a master storyteller—he’s able to a combine both ASL and physical acting to draw audiences in to his story about his vile landlady, her beast-like dog and what occurred at the zoo.

Jeff Alan Lee and Jake Eberle. Photo Credit: Kevin Parry.

At Home at the Zoo has a prevalent theme of humans relationship to animals and as a whole places the actors on stage for audiences to view like animals in a zoo. In line with this idea set designer Karyl Newman builds cage-like walls to border each side of the stage. And when it comes to what actually happens at the zoo, that’s something you must experience with Deaf West Theatre.

At Home at the Zoo runs from Mar 07 – Mar 26, for tickets and more information visit: www.thewallis.org.