I’m usually a sucker for a wounded-souls-can’t-help-falling-in-love two-hander, but based on the guest production now playing at the Victory Theatre Center, William Mastrosimone’s The Woolgatherer would seem to be the exception to that rule.

The mismatched couple in question are an emotionally bruised and battered five-and-dime store clerk named Rose (Ashley Alvarez), and Cliff (Antonio Jaramillo), a rough-hewn, hard-drinking truck driver whose big rig has just broken down and left him with time on his hands and a six-pack of Buds to down, preferably not by his lonesome, which is why the trucker has invited himself up to Rose’s dreary one-room efficiency apartment in Philly for drinks, a chat, and hopefully more.

Over the course of their first hour together, it becomes clear to both Cliff and us in the audience that Rose may not be all that together where love and life are concerned.

Her former roommate died by suicide, though evidence suggests that she had second thoughts about killing herself once she’d kicked the chair she was standing on out from under her.

Even more traumatizing for Rose are memories she can’t erase of a visit to the local zoo during which she witnessed a group of teen boys pelt several exotic birds to death, though whether this is what actually happened or it was she herself who was attacked (sexually?) is open to interpretation.

Needless to say, Rose proves a hard nut for Cliff to crack, and if his intentions vis-à-vis the attractive lonely loner are probably less than honorable, he seems no more likely to be successful at getting her in bed than at discovering what makes her tick.

Still, as difficult as it is for Cliff to figure Rose out, this reviewer found himself equally as confused as to what The Woolgatherer was all about, and never more so than in Rose’s Act Two monolog, one that has her alone in bed and babbling on to herself about who knows what, and don’t ask me to explain her sweater collection.

All of this adds up to a play that would probably already be too artsy and convoluted for my tastes even under the most ideal of circumstances with both actors delivering the dramatic, emotional goods.

Such is unfortunately not the case at the Victory, where only Jaramillo commands the stage with a combination of coarseness and need and layers of pain beneath Cliff’s somewhat loutish exterior.

And if Jaramillo’s extensive stage credits show in his powerful, dynamic star turn, his costar’s inexperience quickly becomes clear in line readings delivered almost entirely in a single high-pitched tone, and it doesn’t help that playwright Mastrosimone has written Rose as a Philly girl, and that when spoken like a Southern California native, her lines simply don’t ring true.

On the plus side, Alvarez plays Rose with a sweetness that’s undeniable, and when things get intensely dramatic late in the game, it’s clear that she could be probably be quite effective in the right role with more one-on-one coaching than perhaps director Rob Nagle was able to give her here.

Jaramillo Productions certainly hasn’t stinted where design is concerned, from the drab, sparsely furnished, but clearly lived-in apartment Mark Mendelson has designed, to Matt Richter’s mood-enhancing lighting and atmosphere-evoking sound design, to Elizabeth Arroyo’s just-right costumes, to Alvarez’s well-chosen array of props.

The Woolgatherer is produced by Buffy A Castillo and Jaramillo. Zaira Paredes Villegas is stage manager. Magnova PR is publicist.

William Mastrosimone’s The Woolgatherer was first performed in 1979 and four-and-a-half decades later its age is starting to show, at least as far as attitudes regarding consent have changed in the years since the #metoo movement began.

Still, problematic or not, artsy or not, Mastrosimone’s two-hander might still work under ideal circumstances. Though its leading man is more than up to the task at hand, the production itself falls short.

The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 West Victory Blvd., Burbank.
www.jaramilloproductions.com

–Steven Stanley
August 24, 2025
Photos: Jaramillo Productions

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, The Victory Theatre Center, William Mastrosimone