Living Out

Playwright Lisa Loomer circles for nearly two hours before hitting her target in the middle of "Living Out's" second act. The bigger issues, the dichotomies between rich and poor, American and immigrant, are eventually passed over, though she certainly covers a lot of terrain in nanny-land before striking one particular West L.A. household.

Playwright Lisa Loomer circles for nearly two hours before hitting her target in the middle of "Living Out's" second act. The bigger issues, the dichotomies between rich and poor, American and immigrant, are eventually passed over, though she certainly covers a lot of terrain in nanny-land before striking one particular West L.A. household.

Playwright Lisa Loomer circles for nearly two hours before hitting her target in the middle of “Living Out’s” second act. The bigger issues Loomer intended to address, the dichotomies between rich and poor, American and immigrant, are eventually passed over, though she certainly covers a lot of terrain in nanny-land before striking one particular West L.A. household. The part of the play that really works, the target so to speak, is the anguish a mother experiences once she decides to leave her baby with a caregiver and returns to work and eventually wholeheartedly embraces her career. Loomer indicts the values and mores of Southern California families, which she makes delightfully funny, but once the big emotional bomb is dropped near the play’s conclusion, there’s no time left to let the action resonate with the characters and then the audience.

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Loomer, screenwriter of “Girl, Interrupted” and author of “The Waiting Room,” a hit at the Taper and elsewhere, has constructed two diverse works separated by an intermission. The first act is bursting at the seams with laughs as one trio of nannies and another of mothers crack wise about Los Angeles neighborhoods and their residents, immigrants, tofu and sugar consumption. In there, too, are ideas about maintaining falsehoods — not necessarily lying to get ahead, just maintaining the status quo.

The first act is bursting at the seams with laughs, as two trios — one consisting of nannies, the other of mothers — crack wise about Los Angeles neighborhoods and their residents, immigrants, tofu and sugar consumption. The L.A. angle is so strong, in fact, it’s doubtful this play culd be staged anywhere without a serious re-write of the geography, trends and local shops. In there, too, are ideas about maintaining falsehoods — not necessarily lying to get ahead, just maintaining the status quo.

The setup is wide open, all the more enjoyable because the lack of a specific direction feeds the anticipation for the second act, the sort of device August Wilson and Edward Albee use so well.

After two job interviews fail because she proffers too much personal information, Anna (Zilah Mendoza), a Salvadoran working in L.A. illegally for eight years, gets hired by Nancy (Amy Aquino) to watch her 3-month-old. Nancy is returning to her entertainment law firm with a heavy heart: She and husband Richard (Daniel Hugh Kelly), a public defender, have moved to the Westside from Silver Lake and, mortgaged to the hilt, see no choice but to be a two-income household.

Richard, a music-loving carefree spirit, is the one who didn’t want to move; Loomer, in a serious vein, links Westside living with safety. In one of the second act’s few comical turns, Loomer lets Richard vent over the economic disparities of the two sides of town as he wonders why they ever moved, screaming “We can’t afford good air.”

Supplying the bulk of the laughs are Anna’s two nanny-mates, Sandra (Maricela Ochoa), who lives outside the home she works in, and live-in Zoila (Diane Rodriguez), and their employers — the overstressed mother of three Linda (Elizabeth Ruscio) and the wittingly disparaging Wallace (Kate A. Mulligan).

Bill Rauch’s direction, impressive throughout, makes particularly inventive use of the stage in the first act as scenes roll from kitchens and living rooms to a city park. Instrumental music, from the likes of Elvis Costello, Los Lobos and Annie Lennox, enliven the segues, though use of X’s two-decade-old “Los Angeles,” with its chorus of “get out,” at the top of the play is misguided.

The second act is far more somber — fewer laughs, less music, more confrontations. Nancy’s baby Jenna is now 8½ months old and Anna has become “a member of the family” in Nancy’s eye — even though she’s unaware Anna has a 6-year-old son. Anna’s husband Bobby (Carlos Gomez), a traditionalist who appears to have affection for his wife but generally only asks her for food and sex, grows impatient over her constant overtime work. Nancy tries to ease Anna’s immigration woes, prepaying her overtime so she can afford a good lawyer, and, along the way, make her fell empowered at home.

Nancy faces a work emergency and asks, one last time, for Anna to put in some OT. Conflict arises — it’s the night of her son’s first soccer game and Anna, who has not been around to see him practice, wanted to make it special. Anna, of course, gives in and stays with the baby.

“Living Out” charges into its “big event” late in the second act. Lives are forever changed — it seems Nancy has the biggest catharsis — and the dialogue suddenly lacks freshness. “Living Out” then tries to end in a hurry, and dialogue turns wooden, as if lifted from newspaper accounts when quoted individuals try to say the right thing in the face of a trauma.

Nancy and Anna end up on the stage alone going separate ways at “Living Out’s” close. There’s still a lie deep in their relationship, which raises the question: What exactly is Loomer’s ultimate point? Of course there’s always a difference between employer and employee regardless of the workplace, even when the worker has been embraced as kin. Could it be that lying is a fact of life for some people, that wealth provides a greater opportunity to be truthful and honest with individual desires? It’s not quite clear. Were more time spent with these two families suddenly thrown into transition, perhaps the closing chords would resonate stronger.

Mendoza is an absolute winner as Anna, her comic and dramatic timing exquisitely precise. Her emotional jumble is consistently clear — she plays subservience as well as she does woman in control.

Aquino is a commanding force, too, as her Nancy starts in a bewildered state — new roles, new neighborhood — and reclaims some of her life as her own. Loomer gives Nancy ups and downs to which Aquino brings a visceral weariness, anger or confusion.

The husbands effectively summon their wives’ inner demons; Kelly is playful though in some ways a bit too dumb or impetuous to be believed as a lawyer. Other cast members are there to establish stereotypes, especially Mulligan’s Wallace, or keep the laughs coming. Rodriguez’s Zoila, with a perspective from the bottom of this particular totem pole, is the sharpest comedian of the bunch.

Christopher Acebo’s turntable set with a single island that’s both kitchen counter and park bench is about as resourceful as has been seen on the Taper’s small stage.

The backdrop is a page out of the Thomas Guide, the neighborhoods south of Interstate 10 and east of downtown. Clever at first, it eventually holds little meaning for the bulk of the Westside activity. Perhaps it’s meant to alert the affluent side of the audience that there’s an L.A. out there they don’t know, and for those drawn in by the subject matter, these producers want those people aware they know you exist.

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Living Out

Mark Taper Forum; 760 seats; $45 top

  • Production: A Center Theater Group/Music Center of a Los Angeles County presentation of the world premiere of a play in two acts by Lisa Loomer. Directed by Bill Rauch.
  • Crew: Sets, Christopher Acebo; costumes, Candace Cain; lighting, Lap-Chi Chu; sound, Jon Gottlieb; music, Joe Romano; production stage manager, Mary Michelle Miner. Artistic director, Gordon Davidson. Opened and reviewed Jan. 29, 2003; closes March 9. Running time: 2 HOURS, 30 MIN.
  • Cast: Anna - Zilah Mendoza Wallace - Kate A. Mulligan Linda - Elizabeth Ruscio Nancy - Amy Aquino Bobby - Carlos Gomez Richard - Daniel Hugh Kelly Sandra - Maricela Ochoa Zoila - Diane Rodriguez

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