“Living Out” is a play that puts the domestic in the domestic comedy.
Lisa Loomer’s refreshing story offers six distinct mothers – three Latina nannies and their three rich white bosses. But while its relevance with regard to red-hot issues like immigration is intrinsic and always evident, her accomplishment is in crafting a human rather than overtly political story.
These women could not be more culturally or economically disparate, but like a lot of American moms, they all are entrusting the primary care of their own kids to someone else.
“Living Out,” which opens the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 28th season, is further proof of artistic director Kent Thompson’s mission to make the work of his company more urgent, more identifiable and more representative of the entire community.
Which is not to say “Living Out” is a perfect play. It is gentle and funny, but not all that fairly presented. Of these six women, four are real flesh and blood. Two of the rich bosses, however, are foolish caricatures who belong in a different play – perhaps in a farce or broad parody like Eric Coble’s “Bright Ideas.”
Happily the focus is on two sympathetic women. Ana (Romi Dias) is an undocumented El Salvadoran rearing one son in East L.A. while raising money to send for the other. Her liberal Jewish boss Nancy (Makela Spielman) is a rising young entertainment attorney and first-time mom living a world away in Santa Monica with her do-gooder husband Richard (Christopher Burns).
Regrettably, Loomer has not saddled Ana with even one slight fault. She always has the perfect temperament and knows just how to assuage her husband or boss. That makes her most likable but also a bit boring. At least Nancy is charmingly neurotic. Still, the considerable heart of this piece lies in the ease with which these two decent young moms bond.
The irony of this play is that Ana is just one of thousands of Latino immigrant women trying to make a life for their kids here while being forced to care for someone else’s. That makes for an unpredictable and welcome premise for a new play. But within that framework, the dominoes fall in a pretty predictable sequence. Ana’s loving, macho husband Bobby (Rey Lucas) resents her job; Nancy feels guilty for having missed her daughter’s first crawl. Much is telegraphed, and the climax is melodramatic.
But the couples are winningly portrayed. So too are Ana’s fellow nannies Sandra (Gabriella Cavallero) and Zoila (Socorro Santiago). The trio meet at a park for hysterical and heartbreaking social commentary.
But then there are Wallace (Lanie MacEwen) and Linda (Kathleen McCall), the offensive and oblivious rich moms who don’t work – they’re just busy. These foolish snobs are played to such a cartoonish hilt, there is no possibility of audience identification with them like there is for the substantive Latinos. That seems like a cheap shot, maybe even a latently racist one, from a playwright busily reinforcing certain stereotypes while purporting to overturn others.
This indulgence detracts from the play’s greatest strength. Loomer is trying to show that everyone here is the same in that they are all trying to do what’s best for their kids. Director Wendy C. Goldberg underscores this notion to great effect by intermingling scenes so that at times the couples are physically sharing the same furniture on stage. It’s an ironic bit of artifice given that surely their actual homes could not be more unlike.
No matter how close these two moms come to forging a genuine bond, an ever-present counter-question is finally given voice: Can you ever really know a person who is so different from you?
As the lights fade, that answer is very much left open to tantalizing interpretation.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Living Out” | *** Rating
COMEDY | Denver Center Theatre Company | Written by Lisa Loomer | Starring Romi Dias and Makela Spielman | Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets | THROUGH OCT. 28 | 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 1:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays | 2 hours, 25 minutes | $36-$46 | 303-893-4100, 866-464-2626, all King Soopers or denvercenter.org; 800-641-1222 outside Denver
