UNDER THE SKIN


A philandering father suffering from kidney failure. An estranged daughter ill-inclined to donate one of her own. A tearjerker-movie-of-the-week plot-propeller if there ever was one, but one that has inspired an honest-to-goodness comedy, Michael Hellinger’s Under The Skin, the terrific latest from International City Theatre.

Audiences are quickly drawn into the lives of 30ish Raina (Allison Blaize), currently raising her four-year-old daughter Lily as a single mom, and Lou (Tony Abatemarco), absent from Raina’s life since long before his granddaughter’s birth, a status quo his daughter has no intention of changing, no matter how dire her dad’s need for an organ donor may be.

Still, once the request has been made, there’s no way of ignoring it, and so Raina travels from Ohio to Philadelphia to find out if she and her father would be a match.

Once arrived in the City of Brotherly Love, she makes the acquaintance of Dr. Badu (Tanya Alexander), Lou’s Ugandan physician; Hector (Julian Smith), his Dominican nurse; Jarrell (Smith again), in the process of being tested to see if he and his ailing “Uncle Gummie” are a match; Marlene (Alexander again), Jarrell’s African-American mother; and a sassy Barista (Alexander in a third role).

Will Raina find it in her heart to donate her kidney provided that urinalyses don’t rule her out? Will romance bloom between her and Jarrell, whose “uncle” was generous enough to pay for his Princeton education? Will long-suppressed secrets and lies finally come to light?

The answer to the last question may be a foregone conclusion, and the second one may seem a likely outcome too given the chemistry between Lou’s daughter and Marlene’s son, but it’s Question Number One that keeps an audience guessing, and despite a few clues that get dropped along the way, the revelation that ends Act One may still come as a doozy of a surprise. (It certainly had me gasping.)

The Philadelphia-based Hollinger has a definite gift for finding laughs in even the grimmest of circumstances, and producer-director caryn desai elicits performances that nail every one of them, while never losing sight of the fact that these are real people and not sitcom characters playing for the next prerecorded laugh.

Not only that, but her stellar ensemble master the challenges of playing realistically written scenes, delivering fourth wall-breaking commentaries, and interrupting scenes they’re not a part of in order to engage with one of the scene’s participants.

Lou may have been a terrible father but Abatemarco makes it clear what a charmer this man can be. Blaize gives us a woman whose anger and resentment can’t hide the fact that she’s still a daughter in need of a father’s love. Alexander embodies a Marlene as hard-edged as she is caring, an MD who’s clearly at the top of her game, and a Barista you do not want to tangle with. Smith aces both the effortless charming Jarrell and the American Dream-pursuing Hector.

Tim Mueller’s set allows quick scene changes between Lou’s hospital room, a couple of apartments, and a neighborhood coffeehouse. Donna Ruzika’s lighting is effective as always, though when only one part of the stage gets lit, the surrounding darkness can have a soporific effect. Kimberly DeShazo’s character-appropriate, character-distinguishing costumes are topnotch as always as are Patty and Gordon Briles props, everything from coffee cups to urine-collecting half-gallon bottles. Sound design master Dave Mickey gives us offstage voices, cellphone beeps, and ambient music, among other effects.

Anthony Gagliardi is resident hair and wig designer. John H. Freeland, Jr. is production stage manager and Lorenzo Marino is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Plays like Opus, Ghost-Writer, Incorruptible, and An Empty Plate In The Café Du Grand Boeuf (all of which I’ve enjoyed) have established Michael Hollinger as a playwright who never repeats himself.

In Under The Skin, he’s managed to find humor in life’s most challenging moments, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Audiences can rejoice that its West Coast Premiere makes for another International City Theatre winner.

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

–Steven Stanley
May 7, 2023
Photos: Kayte Deioma

 

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