Joel Perez as Henry and Melinda Lopez as Mariana in Stir, 2024. (Photo: Rich Soublet II.)
By Sandi Masori
Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — what was the last good play you smelled? No, that’s not a typo, I’m talking about using a sense that isn’t often thought about in theater, your nose. Usually theater will engage your sense of sight and hearing, and once in a while, through water sprays or air fans, your sense of touch, but I’ve never been to a play before that purposely engaged my sense of smell.
Yet, Stir, which was commissioned by the Old Globe Theater and is currently making its world premiere at the Globe’s theater-in-the-round, does exactly that.
Written and acted by Melinda Lopez and Joel Perez, Stir is the story of a family healing from the cancer death of their matriarch during the height of the pandemic. Mariana (Lopez) and Henry (Perez) are siblings who live in different parts of the country and are doing what so many of us did during the pandemic, they’re having a video chat on Zoom. Henry, who lives with their father Papi (Al Rodrigo), wants to know how to make his late mother’s Cuban black beans and Mariana is trying to talk him through it.
The set (designed by Diggle) is two almost magical kitchen islands that the actors move around. I say magical because the stage-length islands swivel around to be put in different positions and have a real working sink and stovetop. It’s a little confusing in the beginning as the actors seem to occupy the same space, but they use some clever staging to make it seem as though they are in two different houses.
For example, in one scene where they’re both cooking, they are on opposite sides of the stovetop as one prepares beans, and the other the onions, garlic and peppers. They then swap places in an exaggerated move so that they don’t touch each other even as they’re occupying the same space. As the play progresses, so does the black bean dish, and the tantalizing aromas fill the theater. Sadly, no samples are offered after the show, but at least you don’t have to try to to take notes to get the recipe, Lopez thoughtfully put it into the program, so you can recreate the dish at home.
The production is as modern as it gets, making a lot of pop culture references like ordering Amazon delivery and using Zoom. It’s the first show I’ve seen that is set during the recent pandemic, and I have to say, it was a little weird to be back there again when it feels like we are only just out of it. Not in a bad way, but in a way that gives you pause for a moment, like “oh wow, we’re over it now, we can look at it from different angles.” It will probably age really well as we get farther away from the pandemic and Covid becomes history rather than current events.
The show stays away from the politics of it, other than mentioning that Florida was still open and New York wasn’t, and really focuses on the emotion of it- the guilt that many felt at not being able to say final goodbyes in person before the world shut down, the isolation of being on your own, the marriages and relationships that both grew apart and grew closer together.
The script is well written, though a bit heavy and Rodrigo’s entrances bring in a breath of fresh air and some humor as Papi ribs his son (in Spanish and English) about being a bad cook and gets excited about playing dominoes.
Stir plays through May 26
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Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World.
