by Vince Duvall~

What have Nick Mills and Vitality Productions built over at the Theatre Asylum on Santa Monica in Hollywood? Outside of the stale, albeit established style of companies like The Actors’ Gang or the steady stream of money that usually doesn’t make it outside the Geffen or downtown, Still Standing by Shyla Marlin is an original work on fire with fresh perspective and new ideas – contributing to a movement that seems to be ablaze in Hollywood theatre lately. A subtle but complex look at racial, cultural and mostly familial issues that in some way touch us all.

A house still standing in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina is a metaphor for the lives that were left behind in the wake of a father who didn’t care. What houses do we all have still standing in the wake of the disasters that find us? And how do we cope when we look in the mirror? These questions and themes are the study of Still Standing.

The play, cut with a nonlinear timeline, unfolds in 17 or so scenes with flashbacks that effectively impact our insight into the lives of the two women presumed to be half sisters by the same father. Tracey Ellis, played by Nichelle Hines, and Laura Theis, played by Vanessa Peruda, are both products of interracial relationships – ones that took place briefly over 20 years ago . Their lives have gone in drastically different directions with Tracey struggling in the aftermath of Katrina and Laura with a somewhat more affluent life – though equally hollow – in Los Angeles. From the outset, when these two women first meet, it’s evident that the cast is well balanced and there is much story to be told.

The father has died and there is a will that may leave a percentage of the inheritance to Tracey. More so, it may be a vindication after the abandonment she has felt over the years. Laura, surrounded by a self involved boyfriend (played by George Hahn) and a manipulative aunt (Eileen T’Kaye) seeks the same kind of connection to a deeper life experience. In the first few scenes we get a sense of how these women’s backgrounds contrast and we meet the families. In the south a convalescing Mother Celeste, played daringly out of age by Monique McIntyre, is interested in collecting the past due of the relationship she had with the father years earlier. Also living with Tracey in New Orleans, her half brother by a different father, Julius, played with welcomed bursts of humor and precision by Rondrell McCormick, seems more interested in the sexual possibilities of a fresh step sister than in helping Tracey.

The two women seem to discover in each other the sense of belonging that has eluded them, sharing intimacies of their lives and even trading family mementos. Interracial siblings is an interesting topic in our evolving global family and the characters are allowed to explore their separate feelings about having grown up mixed – though it seems to have been more confusing in Laura’s world, adding to her sense of disconnection. But the renewed hope and vital discoveries don’t last long.

The turning point comes, topically, with the introduction of new information required by the will.  It’s clear that Laura’s aunt has her own agenda to hoard the inheritance and Celeste’s memory is brought into question. With this new information, all that has been built between the women seems to crumble and threatens to be washed away, not only figuratively but coincidentally and materially, by a second storm that hits the house in New Orleans.

Mr. Mills staging was clean and effective though the space seemed too large at times for a subject that is windswept and messy. Pictures projected on the back wall and accompanying music make the scene changes painless and offer a flavor you can’t get with paint and nails. I’m a fan of mixed media though it rarely finds effective employment and often is more of a distraction. These music and picture choices contribute a sense of New Orleans hard to imagine from our L.A. paradise. The acting, mostly likable and competent, perhaps lacked a certain depth that seemed slightly presentational for what could have been a biting personal delivery steeped in private moments. Still there were some nice emotional deliveries and a clear aim at the tremendous impact that seems possible in Ms. Marlin’s writing.

Certainly, in this new-age era of choice as god, the bonds that we chose may indeed be stronger than family. “Your family is who you chose” after all, and in the end “we all have to save ourselves” from whatever disaster finds us – from where we are left, still standing.

Still Standing plays Thursday Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8pm through September 12, 2010 .

Theater Asylum is located at 6320 Santa Monica Blvd., just west of Vine St. in Hollywood, 90038. Street Parking.

Ticket prices: $15.00

Reservations online at www.plays411.net or by phone at (323) 960-7863.