(an Evening with an Elephant, Enclosed)
Playwright: Gina Lucita Monreal
At: Infamous Commonwealth,
Athenaeum Theatre
Phone: (773) 902-1500
(Ticketmaster); $12
Runs through: May 23
If you were an elephant born in captivity, and chained in an old-fashioned zoo cell for 27 years, what would you dream about? The elephant named Sky by her mother, but called Tiny by her human captors, dreams 'big-ig-ig-ig-ig-ig-ig-ig dreams' of being a professional baseball star, a quiz show champion, the lover of a powerful politician, the liberator of her mother and the savior of other captive elephants. This is the intriguing conceit of playwright and director Gina Lucita Monreal of the Infamous Commonwealth Theatre, which has devoted its season to portraying distorted perspectives.
Monreal's five actors represent different aspects of Sky/Tiny: There, Here, Sky, Before and Escape. Sometimes they operate a life-size elephant puppet, the show's principal scenic piece (nicely designed by Lisa Barcy); other times they act out scenes from Sky's life and fantasies. Monreal's text—which may be written as verse—is full of rapid-fire, often cutesy word-play and repetition. It's sound montage rather than dialogue, peppered with pop culture references such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Leave it to Beaver, and songs such as 'The Way We Were' (repeated endlessly whenever Before takes stage), the 'Hokey-Pokey' and 'Stand By Your Man'.
Big Dreams is almost entirely aural having little essential physical action, so the staging often seems forced, including audience participation. A little bit goes a long way. Text and staging need editing, but Monreal the director has indulged Monreal the playwright, which is why authors shouldn't direct their own work, especially when it's new. At one hour and 50 minutes without intermission, Big Dreams is too long. One begins to tune out the banter—some of it unintelligible—and cringe at the running about.
That's too bad, for eventually Big Dreams gathers emotional mass as the grim reality of captivity is driven home: zoo captivity cuts 20 years off an elephant's life; standing in their own dung on concrete cage floors causes foot disease; elephants sway from boredom. Some captive animals are treated well, but that's not the political point of Big Dreams, which is fare enough.
Among the five high-energy players, Isabel Quintero (Before) stands out for her excellent dialect work and Craig C. Thompson (Escape) stands out as the only man (and swivel-hipped he is, too).
My college mascot was history's most famous pachyderm, Jumbo, whose name became the word. The stuffed skin (with tusks) of this huge being was a gift to Tufts University from 19th Century showman P. T. Barnum. I gazed upon Jumbo often, and learned that elephants are intelligent, family-oriented creatures. Big Dreams might better capture their essence by remembering that less is more. For example, Monreal could cut There and Here's discussion of how/why Sky thinks in English. Sky is anthropomorphic and her language is a given.