Commentary: In 'Alma' and 'Apartment Living,' kitchen-sink realism returns to the theater L.A.-style

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Two new plays, Boni B. Alvarez's 'Apartment Living' and Benjamin Benne's 'Alma,' throw a spotlight on the lives of everyday Angelenos.

“Alma” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre invite us into the cramped homes of ordinary Angelenos, some with decent jobs, others struggling to get by. Black, Mexican American and Filipino American, they are fighting against the odds for a sliver of the American dream.

In “Apartment Living,” Cassandra and Alex are making the final preparations for their wedding when the pandemic hits. Alex, an actor, loses his restaurant gig just as Cassandra, a business manager, is forced to work from home. Meanwhile, next door, Easter , a nurse, wants her son, Dixon , a grocery store clerk, to take more seriously the virus that is suddenly flooding her hospital with patients. His attitude is cavalier, until his mother ends up in the ICU.

The play’s structure is elegant, though it’s not clear how well Alvarez knows his characters. The actors are tasked with filling in incomplete sketches, and occasionally they appear lost. What distinguishes the writing is its cultural specificity. A world is constructed onstage that the actors, Cheryl Umaña and Sabrina Fest, inhabit as if they’ve been living there most of their lives.

 

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