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Three Kings at SeaWorld
The Calendar section has a look at SeaWorld’s Three Kings Celebration, a continuation of the Christmas season featuring a procession, special menu items and more. Also hear from the stars of “Native Gardens,” the new comedy from Orlando Shakespeare Theater; plus a look at healthy bowls in Central Florida, movie listings and more.
Good intentions give way to bad manners in “Native Gardens,” a modern play about a spat between neighbors that reaches epic comic proportions.
“It’s a play on a contemporary topic, but also a play with a lot of heart, warmth and humor,” says Cynthia White, who is directing it for Orlando Shakespeare Theater. It opens today.
“Native Gardens” should be relatable to anyone who has ever disagreed with their neighbors — not necessarily to the level of the Hatfields and McCoys, but more like, “Why would they paint their house that ugly shade of purple?”
In the play, Pablo and Tania move into an upscale neighborhood and find they don’t see eye to eye with their older neighbors, Frank and Virginia, about their mutual fence line.
“The older couple, in their friendliness, make all these assumptions,” White explains. “They have good intentions, but it doesn’t come off so well.”
Written by Karen Zacarías, a playwright based in Washington, D.C., “Native Gardens” was read at the Shakes’ 2016 PlayFest, the theater’s annual celebration of new works. Its enthusiastic response there led to it being included in the current season.
Actor Fredy Ruiz, who plays Pablo, knows where the characters are coming from. He remembers neighbors who liked to party … loudly.
“When you have these disputes, you’re always super polite at first. You don’t want to burn any bridges or make things worse so you say, ‘Hey, can you keep it down please?’” he says. “But then it builds into something much worse.”
That escalation fuels much of the laughter in “Native Gardens.”
“You see the situation evolve from being polite to rapidly spinning out of control,” Ruiz says.
White compares the vibe of the play to an episode of a classic TV sitcom.
“I am a die-hard ‘I Love Lucy’ fan, and it feels like a ‘Lucy’ episode,” she says. “It all erupts the way a ‘Lucy’ episode erupts.”
Underneath the laughs are more thought-provoking undercurrents, which are not overlooked by the actors.
“We are all taking our roles seriously,” says Kate Ingram, who plays Virginia. “We have important messages to deliver to one another.”
The play touches on differences of age, gender, establishment, race and class.
And “Native Gardens” speaks to our times, Ingram says.
“There seems to be a lack of civility in our culture, if you can even call it a culture — it’s gotten so divisive and hateful,” says Ingram, a theater professor at the University of Central Florida. “But this play is about how people treat others. A theme on both sides of the conflict is respect and an underlying kindness.”
Even as it gently raises topical issues, the show never loses sight of the humor, the actors say.
Ruiz, who starred in Greater Orlando Actors’ Theatre’s “In the Heights” and performs at Universal Orlando, credits the director with distilling the comedy and the thoughtful moments.
“Cynthia is really great at picking apart a moment and finding the layers, the beats of it, for the audience,” Ruiz says.
White, the director of new play development for the Shakes, had been a longtime fan of Zacarías. Central Florida theatergoers may be familiar Zacarías’ work through local productions of “Legacy of Light” (Orlando’s Mad Cow Theatre, 2011); “Chasing George Washington” (Orlando Repertory Theatre, 2012) and “Destiny of Desire” (Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, 2017).
In this production of “Native Gardens,” Ruiz and Ingram are joined by Alea Figueroa as Tania and Michael Edwards, a veteran Winter Park Playhouse actor and director, as Frank.
White and the actors say part of the fun is watching alliances shift between the four principal characters while trying to determine who makes the stronger case.
“You think you’re rooting for one couple, then you turn around and find you’re rooting for the other couple,” Ruiz says. “You find yourself saying, ‘These points are super valid.’ I’m rooting sometimes for the older couple!”
Ingram also finds herself cheering against her own character: “If I step out of the play, I think the young couple next door is in the right!”
Ultimately, the three agree, the beauty of “Native Voices” lies in the fact that although the characters have valid — if contradictory — viewpoints, they have to learn to get along.
“No one is in the wrong,” Ruiz says. “This is an American play. They are all Americans. Four very different Americans.”