Theater Review: Every Day Vanilla

                            The Robles family

How could you resist seeing a play called "Every Day Vanilla?" I couldn’t decide whether that’s a description of somebody’s life, cooking style or lack of hope for the future. 

So I went to see playwright Lani Gobaleza’s piece, playing through Dec. 29 at Moxie Theatre. This is not a Moxie production; it’s an import by Filipina American writer Gobaleza, who describes her life, which includes love, sex, some LGTBQIA stories, intergenerational conflict and life as she knows it.

The main character here is called Frankie Robles (a teenage girl), who lives in San Diego with her mother Francesca (Sasha Foo) and sister Flora (Hillary Soriano). Frankie is the one with wanderlust: she’s a writer (without a current job) who wants more than anything to travel (and write). Flora is pretty much happy as is; she’ll settle for a boyfriend.

Francesca just wishes Frankie would settle down like everyone else, but is aware that her daughter has other ambitions.

Let’s see, gotta have some guys in here too. One is actor/singer Zhang (who doubles as a terrific dancer), who livens up the scene when it gets too heavy.

And there’s handsome Kyle Blaine Tiglao playing Aubrey Delgado, who may or may not be interested in Frankie (who in turn may or may not be interested in him as a partner).

But what makes it contemporary is that this is also a queer coming-of-age play. I’m not going past that; you’ll have to see it to find out how the plot works itself out.

This is a fine and talented cast, but “Every Day Vanilla” has, in my opinion, a few problems for a contemporary audience. It’s over two hours long, for one thing. For another, the actors (with a little outside help) also act as scene-changers and those of us in the audience get to watch them physically move furniture around. Call me a grump, but that’s not anything I ever wanted to do.

Still, I’ll give them all credit for dedication to theater, which definitely is something I want to see, every day if possible. Congratulations to all on a fine effort.

The details

“Every Day Vanilla” plays through Dec. 29, 2023 at Moxie Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd. 

Shows at 7 pm Dec 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 28 and 29.

Tickets $19-75 with discounts for students/educators, seniors and military. Dec. 18 is Industry Night with $15 tickets for people in the theater community.