Playwright Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas and director Rubén Polendo combine to create a piece of beguiling if somewhat baffling theatre in Cortiñas' fablelike drama Blind Mouth Singing.
The play has the texture of magic realism as it tells of Reiderico (Jon Norman Schneider), a boy growing up under the strict governance of his mother (Mia Katigbak), a woman long ago abandoned by her husband and now eking out a living on a small farm. Reiderico also must bear the bullying of his cloddish older brother Guido (Orville Mendoza). He does have a sympathetic ear in his old-maid aunt Bolivia (Sue Jean Kim). But more important, Reiderico has a friend named Lucero (Alexis Camins) who lives in the farm's well, a spectral chum with whom he feels an ever-increasing bond. Finally, Lucero convinces Reiderico to pull him out of the well and change places with him. The new Lucero/Reiderico emerges as an independent, adventurous spirit, leaving the real Reiderico trapped in the well.
What does it all mean? Is Lucero actually a submerged ego, plotting to break through Reiderico's thwarted persona? Is the play a parable about the process -- and the dangers -- of growing up? (Lucero/Reiderico does not come to a good end.) With his plotting a little murky, Cortiñas doesn't answer these questions. But in solidly crafted scenes often tweaked with humor, he exudes the air of a writer who knows the answers even if the audience can't figure them out.
Polendo has staged the work with handsome theatricality, using to grand effect the vast open space of his playing area, with a long oblong pool representing the mysterious well. A live sound design, made up primarily of percussive clatter, punctuates much of the action, adding to the magic feel. And the uniformly strong actors deliver affectingly naturalistic performances, making for an arresting tension when set against the surreal turns of the plot and the production's expressionistic vision.
Presented by National Asian American Theatre Company
at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave., NYC.
Sept. 19-Oct. 6. Mon.-Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 7 p.m.
(212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.