A hotshot young corporate lawyer discovers she has an Iraqi half-sister from her father’s long ago extramarital relationship in Wendy Graf’s Closely Related Keys, an International City Theatre production every bit as topical as it was in its 2014 World Premiere, though ultimately not as effective as it was the first time round.

Protagonist Julia (Sydney A. Mason) would seem to have it made in 2010 New York City with her steadily rising position at a politically conservative Manhattan law firm, her high-rise apartment-with-view, and a handsome work partner (Nick Molari as Ron) around to provide additional “benefits” on the side.

Then comes her ex-army chemist dad’s bombshell announcement that she has a half-sister in Iraq, and Julia’s entire world is turned upside-down.

That the widowed Charlie (Oscar Best) had an affair during his seven-year stay in the Middle East is something Julia has known about for years, not however that her dad’s illicit relationship produced a daughter, now a gifted young violinist with a dream to study at Juilliard, a young woman whom Julia’s father now wants his outraged daughter to house.

And who should show up on her doorstep a mere three weeks later but Neyla (Mehrnaz Mohammadi), head wrapped in a scarf and violin case in hand.

Before long, the highly educated, multilingual Nayla begins experiencing war-related nightmares, and more suspicious still, begins skyping with a certain Tariq (Adrian Mohamad Tafesh) back in Iraq.

Could it be that Julia was right when in suggesting to her father that this long-lost sister/daughter might be an Islamic terrorist?

If I have deliberately neglected to mention that Julia and Charlie are African-American, it is partly because their race is, in many ways, incidental to the story Graf has to tell. At the same time, like just about anything from Shonda Rhimes, having a racially mixed cast renders Closely Related Keys all the richer.

Graf isn’t afraid to make Julia more than a bit prickly, to put it mildly, and an absolutely fabulous Mason isn’t afraid to play her that way, yet both playwright and actress make it abundantly clear how a childhood shattered by her parents’ estrangement along with a burning need to rise to the top of a WASPy male-dominated profession could add up to an icy, steel-edged “Dragon Lady” with little or no desire to bond with a sister she never knew she had, particularly one who can’t help sparking memories of the day Muslim terrorists crashed twin jets into those twin towers.

In addition to Mason’s riveting star turn, director Saundra McClain has elicited particularly fine supporting performances from Best as a man torn between two daughters and haunted by a past filled with might-have-beens, and from a dynamic, charismatic Molari as a work colleague/bed partner who thought he was something more.

Where ICT’s Closely Related Keys fails to live up to memories of its Lounge Theatre debut is in Mohammadi’s Neyla, whose accent vacillates from sort-of Arabic to sort-of Persian with more than a few bits of unaccented American English thrown in, leaving me mostly unconvinced that this was a young woman searching for words in a language not her own. (Tafesh is far more believable in a much smaller role.)

Stephanie Kerley Schwartz gives Closely Related Keys a gorgeously stylish multi-locale set with its hints of a Manhattan skyline and hanging streamers whose meaning becomes powerfully clear midway through.

Donny Jackson’s lighting is equally accomplished, as is Dave Mickey’s dramatic sound design and jazzy underscoring. I liked most of Kim DeShazo’s costumes, though Neyla’s Islamic garb lacks the authenticity of Naila Aladdin Sanders’ designs back in 2014. Patty and Gordon Briles’ properties are spot-on.

Closely Related Keys is produced by caryn desai. Tommy Statler is assistant director. John Freeland, Jr. is production stage manager and Jamiela Williams is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Even without the brilliance and believability Yvonne Huff brought to Nayla at the Lounge, Closely Related Keys remains frequently compelling fare.  Perhaps even more importantly, as International City Theatre’s first live production since February of 2020, it marks a welcome return to the Beverly O’Neill Theatre.

International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.
www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

Note: Seating is socially distanced (skipping rows as well as seats) and masks are required as mandated by the County of Los Angeles on the date of each performance.

Photos: Andrew Hofstetter, Donny Jackson

Tags: International City Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, Wendy Graf