THE NATURE OF FAMILY
FATHER, DAUGHTER LOOK TO RECONNECT WHILE DISCUSSING EARTH’S PERILS IN MOXIE’S ‘BIRDS’
When actors Farah Dinga and Mike Sears and director Lisa Berger were all teaching last summer in La Jolla Playhouse’s Young Performers Conservatory Program, they had no idea they’d be reuniting a few months later to tell an important story about both a father-daughter relationship and the threat of climate change to the natural world.
That’s the richness of Anna Ouyang Moench’s “Birds of North America,” which opens tonight at Moxie Theatre. Berger is directing the production, with her husband Sears and Dinga co-starring as the father, John, and daughter, Caitlyn. They’re both birders who, when not looking up, are looking inside themselves in search of an elusive connection.
The production is being produced in partnership with the San Diego Audubon Society, which is hosting its 2023 San Diego Bird Festival Feb. 22-25. The society will be providing audience members with a guide to the birds that are mentioned during the play. The Los Angeles-based playwright, Moench, is a writer and supervising producer on the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ series “Severance.”
For Sears, this a reprisal of the role he played when “Birds of North America” debuted as part of the Wagner New Play Festival at the University of California San Diego in 2017. For Dinga, this Moxie production is the culmination of a full-circle journey.
“The fun Easter egg of this show for me is that I’m from the Bay Area, and when I was looking at universities to go to as a transfer student, I visited UCSD,” Dinga said. “I walked into one of their tech rehearsals. It was ‘Birds of North America’ with Mike Sears. Even that five-minute snippet of the play convinced me this was the college I wanted to go to. It brought me to San Diego, where I’ve stayed.”
The disconnect between father and daughter, addressed by the characters over a period of years, is dramatized in a suburban backyard where the two share what they have most in common: a love of birding.
“It’s been interesting to find a balance between honoring birding and what that is for these two characters, and the place that it holds in their hearts while conflict is happening, while feelings are being hurt,” said Dinga.
The issue of climate change is woven into this interpersonal dynamic, but not by “shaking the rafters,” said Sears. “It’s actually quiet.”
“Both characters struggle with hypocrisy, both struggle with how to be in the world,” Sears said. “One of the ideas in the play is: ‘How do you believe in the world as a human and not hurt it? How do you build a life and move forward when that’s a reality? No matter what you do you’re causing harm.’ Anna (Ouyang Moench) doesn’t give any easy outs or let either character hold the upper hand too long. Both of us get faced with the consequences of our actions.”
Birding is, Dinga says, one of the best gauges of climate change as it facilitates tracking of the number of migrating birds over a period of years.
“Out of civilians’ curiosity with these beautiful creatures, we have this very in-depth measurement of how climate change is affecting birds and our environment,” she said.
The integration of the fatherdaughter conflict and the cautionary subtext about climate change is an organic one, said Sears.
“The issues feel like they come out of the relationship versus the play is about this issue and the characters are trying to deal with it.”
Sears said what he’s learned about birding during his experience with the play has been gratifying.
“I am heartened by the notech aspect of it, this idea of going outside and looking at the sky for entertainment,” he said. “It’s a very revolutionary act now, to say I’m going to be entertained by the natural environment and that’s enough to hold my interest. I find great comfort and hope in that.”