Slowgirl
It’s hard enough to live in the Times That Are. Imagine the pain of having to live with the Times That Might Have Been.
Chula Vista’s Onstage Playhouse presents playwright Greg Pierce’s “Slowgirl,” a thought-provoking meditation on family, mistakes and what we missed out on, through April 2. OnStage’s artistic director James P. Darvas helms the show.
It takes place in Costa Rica, where middle-aged former attorney Sterling (Jason Heil) has settled in the jungle. He lives alone and loves it, spending his time cooking, rocking and reading in his hammock where he sees green nature all around and even hears birds tweet and iguanas slithering around on the roof.
Sterling hasn’t seen his niece Becky (Ava Smithmier) since she was nine, and is a bit surprised at a visit from this fast-talking teen who loves company. She’s been suspended from school because she (and others) encouraged a somewhat mentally slow student (the titular “Slowgirl”) named Marybeth to put on paper-maché “wings” as a joke. What they didn’t know was that Marybeth would climb out a second-story window and fall.
The day after Becky arrives, Sterling takes her into his rock garden, known as the Labyrinth. Here, ankle-high stones are arranged in 11 concentric circles, and it matters that they be in a particular order. Sterling tells her “I like doing it because it calms me down and straightens out my head.” Becky thinks it looks a bit too religious for her taste, but after they spend a while there in silence, she too begins to find it calming.
Sterling is in Costa Rica because his crook of a law partner got them into a shady deal in which money that was supposedly collected for Holocaust victims was stolen by the partner. Sterling didn’t know about it and was not prosecuted, but it still pains him to think about it.
Heil, a fine local actor/drama teacher, does a splendid job as the reclusive Sterling. Ms. Smithmier, a graduate of the USD Bachelor of Arts program in Theatre), is ebullient and fun to watch as Becky, about as opposite a personality as there could be to her uncle.
Bravo to Anthony Garcia and Kevin “Blax” Burroughs for the fine set and lighting designs, Estefania Ricalde for the effective sound design and Brad Dubois for the appropriate costumes.
Pierce’s piece makes you contemplate the sometimes murky boundary between guilt and innocence, and ponder what might have been if only….
The show is a 90-minute one-act, but plenty of food for thought is packed into those minutes.
The details
“Slowgirl” plays through April 2, 2023 at OnStage Playhouse, 291 Third Avenue in Chula Vista.
Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: www.onstageplayhouse.org
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