The play begins at the beginning, with the birth of these triplet girls to a loving mother and father. The three sisters are very different, as sisters often are - oldest Albienne loves cake, middle sister Beatrix loves adventure, and youngest Carmen carries the weight of the world in her backpack. When the thing happens that separates them, they react very differently. Albienne laughs, and sets off walking forward. Beatrix cries, and starts walking back looking for what was lost. Overwhelmed, Carmen stays put and builds a life right where she is. Three different ways to react to hardship, all valid at times. But since the world is round, the sisters know that if they keep walking straight, Albienne and Beatrix will cross paths on the other side of the world, and eventually end up back in that same place with Carmen. And that's what happens through the course of the 80-some minute play, but it takes a decade or two. The sisters reunite as women who have lived full and hard lives, and find joy in being together again.
Ten Thousand Things is in a transition period; Artistic Director for the last six years Marcela Lorca has left, and new AD Caitlin Lowans has just joined (and gave the pre-show speech at the show I saw). So they've been having a series of guest directors lately; for this show they tapped Markel Kiefer of TigerLion Arts, the company responsible for one of my favorite theater experiences of all time – the outdoor ambulatory play Nature about the life and friendship of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. That show (and others by TLA) is very much in the TTT style – playful and physical and musical, so this new pairing works quite well. A sense of fun and play permeates the piece, but the big emotions (grief, loss, love, discovery, hope) are also very much at the forefront.
I really could not think of three better “girls” than these three actors to play the title characters. As I told my from-out-of-town cousins whom I brought to the play, wanting to share one of my favorite theater companies, Joy Dolo is one of the funniest actors I've ever seen, and she definitely brings all of that to Albienne. She's so great at interacting with and engaging the audience, and young Albienne is a light. But she has a difficult journey, which Joy also portrays well. TTT vet Maggie Chestovich is fierce as Beatrix, the middle child who feels big emotions, crying in grief but determined to get back what she lost. Katie Bradley is so endearing as the sensitive Carmen, so believable as the little girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders weighing her down, but not preventing her from finding her own place right where she is. Rounding out the cast and playing multiple roles, including Mother and Father, are Marisa B. Tejada and Tyson Forbes (the other half of TLA), creating so many fun and distinct characters (Tyson is both the beloved Father and a potential love interest for one of the sisters, Marisa's Badger is a hoot, among other fun characters).
TTT's resident Music Director Peter Vitale has also recently left the company, so over the last few years we've seen a variety of musicians take up the mantle of creating a soundscape. For this show, flutist and composer Julie Johnson has created music and sound so organic to the story as to almost fade into the background (in the best way). She plays multiple different flutes, and the cast members pick up instruments sometimes too. The set is characteristically sparse and simple, just a table with some props that's rolled on “stage” occasionally. The costumes are bright and colorful and whimsically childlike, the sisters in bold colors, the ensemble in the blue-gray of water. (Set and prop design by Joel Sass, costume design by Sarah Bahr.)
As is often the case with TTT, I just couldn't imagine anyone else doing this play in any other way. It's such a sweet, heart-warming, relatable story of family and growing up, told in the best way – playful and engaging and so much fun you can't help but be immediately drawn into the story, and a little sad when it ends and you have to go back to the real world again.
