Off-Broadway Theater Review: Implications of Cohabitation

Connie Saltzman, Andres de Vengoechea, Gladys Perez, Vanessa Verduga. Poto: Michael Blase

New Theater Group Features Work by Promising Playwright

By Lauren Yarger
Summer is a great time to find some gems Off-Broadway that might get overlooked in the crush of the regular Broadway season. Vanessa Verduga’s Implications of Cohabitation, getting a run at Theatre Row by Sudacas Theater, a new Latino-American company, is a recent find. With tickets at just $20.25, you’re not likely to find a bigger bang for your buck in New York.

The multi-talented Verduga (she’s a lawyer who among other things created the popular digital series and comic book “Justice Woman” and is recording her first solo urban Latino album called “Soy Mujer” -- “I am Woman”) creates interesting characters and thought-provoking situations, directed here by Leni Mendez.

Siblings Jenny (Connie Saltzman) and Kevin (Andres de Vengochea) are a bit surprised when their father, Nelson (Anthony Ruiz) turns their mother’s memorial service into a family reunion of sorts by inviting their half sister, Sara (Verduga, showing that multiple-talented thing again, plays this role in her play). Nelson had left their mother for a waitress in the Ecuadorian restaurant where they meet and the two families have never been close. Sara’s mother, Carmen (a solid Adriana Sananes) – loathingly referred to by Kevin and Jenny as their father’s baby mama -- also was abandoned by Nelson, when he left her to go back to his first wife.

Nelson compounds the awkwardness in the air by announcing that he plans to sell his home and move in with each his children to get to know them better. This, to put it mildly, doesn’t go over well with the kids. Kevin, an actor, and Jenny, a musician, feel their father doesn’t understand them and they are sure they can never measure up against Sara’s successful career as a lawyer.

Besides, there is some other cohabitation going on. The kids have things in their private lives that make it difficult to have a father move in: Sara lives with her fiancé, Ben, and has an ex, Jake (James Padric), who complicates things. Jenny enjoys taking hits off of her bong while composing and Kevin has a sexual partner who drops in behind the back of his live-in girlfriend, Amy.

Rejected from each of his children’s households, Nelson finds himself chatting on a park bench with a homeless man (David Pendleton) who offers some wisdom and advice.

Though the script needs an edit and some of the action in the 100 minutes with intermission could be tightened (one scene played like two actors groping for their lines), the characters are engaging and likable. They deal with real emotions and we can relate to most of what they experience (even annoyance with an overly enthusiastic waitress played by Gladys Perez).

When Carmen helps her daughter put on her wedding dress and tries to console Sara when she thinks her father won’t show up to give her away, we’re looking at real life, not just a drama at Theatre Row. I am looking forward to more from this theater company and this playwright is in my radar.

Implication of Cohabitation plays at the Clurman Theatre, 410 West 42nd St. NYC (Theatre Row) through Aug. 26. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm; Aug. 17 at 2 pm. Tickets: $20.25; (212) 239-6200; ImplicationsOfCohabitation.com

Credits:

By Vanessa Verduga; Directed by Leni Mendez, Assistant Direction by Joseph Barone, Scenic Design by Anna Grigo, Costume Design by Steven Daniel, Lighting Design by Jackson Miller, Sound Design by Lawrence Schober; Properties by Emilie A. Grossman.