In “Am I Roxie?,” a world premiere one-woman-show on the Geffen Playhouse, Roxana Ortega, a working actress and alum of the Groundlings Theatre’s Sunday Firm, revisits the interval in her life when she was the caregiver for her mom, whose reminiscence was unraveling.
When Ortega’s father died of a sudden coronary heart assault outdoors the submit workplace, she was unprepared for the results. He had been defending the household from her mom’s decline.
An immigrant from Peru who had relinquished her goals of performing to boost a household, Carmen had a particular bond with Ortega. When little Roxana was rising up in Fullerton, her mom would improvise operas whereas fixing breakfast. Collectively, they dreamed theatrical goals.
Carmen has many sisters — “Picture the Housewives of Beverly Hills, but in Canoga Park” — however none had been capable of take her in. Ortega’s siblings, married with youngsters, had been equally unable.
Not having youngsters of her personal disadvantaged Ortega of the one excuse her household would have acknowledged. But she nonetheless wished to have youngsters, although not earlier than she discovered the best husband and made some headway in a profession marked by small triumphs, akin to reserving commercials and webisodes. Was she actually going to place her life on maintain for a number of years?
Discovering a painful compromise, she decides to maneuver her mom to an assisted-living facility close to her in L.A. Taking this step requires her to go to battle along with her “inner Latina critic,” who reminds her of the code of her blood: “We take care of our own.” She provides an expletive to the top of this pronouncement, however no emphasis is required for a daughter who has already indicted herself for selfishness, the one unpardonable sin for a Latina.
“Am I Roxie?,” carried out by Ortega with unflagging ebullience in an athletic-wear jumpsuit designed for consolation somewhat than fashion, brings to the exhausting, guilt-inducing grind of eldercare her personal cultural spin. The topic is relatable, as lifespans have prolonged whereas medical health insurance solely appears to contract. Ortega is an agreeable information by means of the thicket of issues, akin to selecting between senior amenities that resemble “sad Marriotts” or “sad La Quinta Inns.”
The present is extra of a private essay composed for the stage than a deeply imagined efficiency work. Ortega’s strategy is pleasant and wryly conversational. She’s bearing witness to a human dilemma our tradition would favor to maintain beneath wraps, however Ortega would possibly simply as simply be doing an audio essay or podcast. The one character who comes vividly to life is her personal.
There’s a wealthy custom of efficiency artists bringing tough private tales to public gentle. “Am I Roxie?” appears disconnected from the work of Lisa Kron, Deb Margolin and Marga Gomez. Soloists who can populate the stage with uncurtailed ambition.
Thematically, “Am I Roxie?” is structured across the “Circle of Life” music from “The Lion King.” Ortega is aware of this reference is corny, however it’s additionally inescapably apt. The one who gave her life now wants her assist as she nears the top.
Roxana Ortega in “Am I Roxie?” at Geffen Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
Delivery and demise weigh heavy on Ortega’s thoughts, as she ponders her personal lifespan, the diminishing window for motherhood and the confused and typically offended helplessness of Carmen, who involves consider that her daughter is her sister. Ultimately, Carmen will marvel if she herself is Roxie, an existential dilemma that Ortega refuses to know as a mere symptom of Alzheimer’s illness.
She’s reluctant in the beginning to call her mom’s situation. How can she scale back a liked one to a medical prognosis? Even at Carmen’s most exasperating, she may nonetheless shock Ortega with a easy, poignant query: “How are you doing in your life, Roxie?”
Ortega begins to know that, although her mom has been remodeled, she will nonetheless join along with her if she accepts her as she is. By talking to her mom within the nonsense language she falls into and by enjoying video games of faux as in the event that they had been again in her childhood residence, Ortega reaches her mom, if just for fleeting moments.
The manufacturing, directed by Bernardo Cubría, appears to have adopted a medical oath of first doing no hurt. A set piece is each on occasion mechanically (and considerably quizzically) moved in or out, and there are projections providing illustrations of Fullerton and Ortega’s psychological well being journey scaling the height of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
However “Am I Roxie?” doesn’t rely upon scenic frills. Ortega is the present — not simply her story however her rapport with the theatergoers, with whom she confides as if to outdated buddies. She shares her fears that she may need sometimes failed her mom, however this confession is simply one other instance of her beneficiant humanity.
‘Am I Roxie?’
The place: Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., L.A.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and eight p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends Oct. 5
Tickets: $45 – $139 (topic to vary)
Contact: (310) 208-2028 or www.geffenplayhouse.org
Working time: 1 hour, 25 minutes (no intermission)
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