By Ashlei Havili Thomas
Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Aftershock by Iris Salazar asks the audience in Salt Lake City, Utah, this question: most Utah residents remember the unprecedented earthquake of 2020 and its subsequent aftershocks, but when so much feels shaken, what else comes bubbling to the surface? Tackling love, loneliness, religion, femininity, and race, this play is not one you can sit back during and let your mind wander, enjoying its spectacle. Aftershock is the perfect blend of reality, memory, processing trauma, and examining ourselves. By breaking the fourth wall and allowing the audience to become a part of the journey, Aftershock brings a fresh look to how the real world affects art and how that art then affects the world.
The play revolves around Teah, a middle-aged Latina woman who finds herself single when the earthquake rocks Utah. It follows Teah as she seeks therapy for the emotional turmoil brought on by the quake and its subsequent aftershocks. Told through a dream in which Teah is a possible contestant on The Bachelor’s Matchmaker, we learn what Teah’s life has looked like, the memories and experiences brought to the forefront by the earthquake, and her thoughts on it all. Dr. Love Dearest is both the tardy therapist who shows up at the end of the dream as well as the matchmaker in Teah’s dream, asking her questions to further understand what drives Teah and makes her a good candidate. Through the show, we learn of the memories that have shaped Teah and her beliefs of herself and her life. Told with an almost ethereal ensemble, these memories and ideas take on a fantastical shape as the audience interacts and is brought to the center of Teah’s world that has been so unsettled by the earthquake.
Estephani Cerros is Teah, giving the audience an almost-one-woman-show glimpse into Teah’s character. Cerros creates a perfect blend of resolute confidence and unsurety, showing how Teah’s veneer has cracked under the stress of the natural disaster. Cerros’s role as the unwilling participant in a reality show draws the audience to her side, allowing for deeper conversations about the complex topics of religion, mental health, and sexuality. Dr. Love Dearest (Yolanda Stange) is a concerned listener, less-than-impartial confidant, and the blurred line between Teah’s reality and the augmented recollections of Teah’s dream. Stange takes this all in stride, allowing the focus to remain on Teah while prompting and nudging the audience along the storyline to its drawn conclusions and unanswered questions. Danny Borba, Pedro Flores, Liza Shoell, and Sam Torres make up the ensemble, part memory and part subconscious, to create the world of Teah’s thoughts and imaginings. The ensemble truly helps the audience get a better sense of Teah. Their clear vignettes of memories create the ideal landscape for the audience to be a part of Teah’s memories, removing the need for imagining a described experience. The whole cast works in perfect harmony, a seemingly effortless machine for the storytelling.
If you’ve never been to the black box theater at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, the space is intimate, but infinite in possibility. Janice Chan—scenic director—and the lighting designer Emma Eugenia Belnap harness that possibility with the perfect blend of opulence and ruin that draws the audience in while giving plenty of playing space and hiding spots for props and actors alike. Similarly, the costuming by Maddiey Howell brings the story to life while distinguishing between the memories and ideas created by the ensemble and Teah’s reality. Howell’s decision to dress the ensemble members in block colors (one per actor) allows them to effortlessly change from memory to fantasy ideations and back. This all falls under the direction of Cheryl Ann Cluff. Cluff’s clear blocking of memories as separate from Teah’s conversations with Dr. Love Dearest is instrumental in the audience’s understanding of the world of the play. Truly, the design team uses the space given to get the audience curious, keep them engaged, and enhance the performance of the actors.
Plan-B Theatre’s world premiere of Aftershock by Iris Salazar at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is suitable for mature audiences. This reviewer recommends parents review the show’s material before viewing with teenagers. The show includes themes of suicide, self-harm, assault, racism and religious confusion. While the show is packed with ideas and beautiful scenes, it only runs seventy minutes with no intermission. This is truly a play for Utah, by Utah. Don’t miss your chance to see this wonderful production in Salt Lake City.
Plan-B Theatre presents the world premiere of Aftershock by Iris Salazar.
April 7-9, 14-16, 2022, 8 PM; April 9 & 16, 4 PM Matinee; April 10 & 17, 2 PM Matinee (also available for streaming April 13-17, 2022)
Tickets: $25
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