Playwright: Naomi Iizuka. At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn. Phone: 312-443-3800; $15-$39. Runs through: May 3. Photo by Peter Wynn Thompson
The close of Ghostwritten has Eurasian Beatrice, carrying her infant child, torn between images of her Vietnamese birth mother and her white American half-sister who has raised her as a daughter. With which race does Beatrice identify? With which culture? Can she choose between them? That her birth mother also is a demon ( whose name can only be sung ) further complicates matters in this intriguing world premiere work of magic realism.
In her prolific 20-year career, playwright Naomi Iizuka—an Asian Latina who has made her life in the United States—has returned time and again to issues of racial and cultural identity. For Ghostwritten, Iizuka draws inspiration from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Rumplestiltskin in which a dwarf performs magical feats that save the heroine's life, in exchange for her first-born child. Indeed, the play's opening line is "Once upon a time..." This line and other passages are repeated several times during the play to establish an intentional, ironic sense of déjà vu and to indicate the possibly cyclical nature of a tale rich in metaphysical layers as well as primal fears and longings.
Linear in time but fluid in space, Ghostwritten is highly theatrical and is given a marvelous, engaging staging by Lisa Portes, who establishes the perfect balance between mystery, menace and comedy. Her unbeatable cast ( even the understudies have depth ) is dominated by Chicago veteran Lisa Tejero as the Woman From Vietnam, the play's mesmerizing but threatening antagonist. Emphatically, however, Tejero is the first among equals in a six-person ensemble of matched strength among whom physical work ( dance-like movement and a short, violent fight ) are as important as vocal passages.
The play, which I expect will be widely produced, is not without several imperfections. The most notable is that two of the three men are ciphers, merely present as for purposes of plot mechanics. Chad ( played by Dieterich Gray ) —Beatrice's boyfriend—is the most obviously so, but even the meatier role of Beatrice's Uncle Martin ( Dan Waller ) is more of a tangent than a necessity to the play. The extended subplot in which he is involved can be reduced, thereby shortening and more tightly focusing the play in a healthy way. The fact is, Ghostwritten is a women's story and the men—even the demon's Vietnamese servant Linh ( Arthur Acuna ) —are quite secondary albeit well-played by this company ( completed by Tiffany Villarin as Bea and Kim Martin-Cotten as her sister ) .
Linda Buchanan's towering and deep-hued set on a thrust stage, Keith Parham's mottled lighting, Rachel Anne Healy's witty costumes ( love the Woodsman's attire, echoing Bert Lahr's classic vaudeville outfit ) and Andre J. Pluess' sometimes-eerie music and sound add substantially to the magic side of this magic realism.
