Weekender Encore: ‘Other Desert Cities’ Is a Compelling, Not-So-Distant Mirror
By Sasha Paulsen
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NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — For those who are concerned about prevailing and seemingly irreconcilable differences amongst Americans, there is a degree of comfort in realizing that this is not a new condition.
Admittedly, this not an overwhelming source of joy.
Looking back, however, even just 20 years, one can see that the roots of today’s confusion on subjects such as what is the truth have been a long time growing.
Witness, for example, the new play at Lucky Penny Productions, Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities,” which opened on Broadway in November 2011 and was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Set in 2004, at the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it opens with a family returning from playing tennis, as one does on Christmas Eve in Palm Springs.
An inescapable truth revealed like the flash of a bomb exploding,
Daughter Brooke Wyeth (Taylor Bartolucci) is making her first visit from New York after a six-year absence, to the desert retreat of her parents, Lyman (Barry Martin) and Polly (Cynthia Lagodzinski). Also present is their son, Trip (Max Geide), who produces a courtroom-based reality show in Los Angeles, and Polly’s sister, Silda (Titian Lish), a recovering alcoholic and, like Polly, a former screenwriter.
After successful careers in Hollywood, the older Wyeths dipped into politics. Lyman, the movie star, followed the example of another conservative actor into politics. Their conversation is peppered with references to “Nancy and Ron”; the latter appointed Lyman to a U.S. ambassadorship. Retired now, they are outwardly comfortable and staunchly Republican. It’s their inner state, revealed, as the day progresses, that is fearful, anxious and defensive, and this not just because of encounters with vegan menus at Palm Springs restaurants.
Political views trigger conflicts even before Brooke, a writer, announces that her newly finished book is not a novel, like her first successful work, but a memoir. She has written it to grapple with the devastating death of her other brother, Harry, who died by suicide after becoming involved with a radical underground group that bombed an Army recruitment center and accidentally killed a janitor. Harry’s death triggered a breakdown for Brooke, from which she appears to only have partially recovered. He was her best friend, she maintains, with increasing aguish; he died without leaving any message for her, and now his parents will not even talk about him.
The parents are seismically rattled by their daughter’s announcement. What right has she to reveal family secrets? It’s only as the conversations spirals deeper and deeper — while Trip tries to be a peacemaker and Silda makes tea — that the whole family must face up to just what these secrets are: an inescapable truth revealed like the flash of a bomb exploding.
This taut family drama is powered by the skillful acting of a superb cast that infuses humor and humanity into the tensions of a family gathering, a not-so-distant mirror, but one that deftly frames questions: Just how far can one escape into a desert hiding place designed to keep reality at bay? And what happens when reality comes calling on Christmas Eve?
Once again, Lucky Penny has taken a chance in presenting a challenging, lesser-known work in addition to their always entertaining crowd-pleasers. It’s all the more reason to support this local theater treasure.
“Other Desert Cities,” which takes its name from a freeway sign directing traffic to “Indio, California and Other Desert Cities” (and not Kabul, as I had guessed), is directed by Dana Nelson-Isaacs. It runs Thursday through Sunday until May 4 at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center at 1758 Industrial Drive. For tickets and information, visit their website.
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Sasha Paulsen is a Napa Valley-based novelist and journalist.
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Thank you Sasha Paulsen for your excellent review of “Other Desert Cities.” After attending the opening night performance of this well-written and well acted play we believe it is one of Lucky Penny’s finest - and that is saying a lot because this local theater outdoes itself year after year in bringing the best to local audiences.
Gratefully,
Jim and Rosemarie Kempton