Very few twenty-nine year old’s want to move back in with their parents, but Archer (Jasmine Joshua), the semi-eponymous lead of Albatross Theatre Lab’s Sagittarius Ponderosa (his name is taken from the star sign) has a few more straws on his back than the average camel when he relocates back to his childhood home in Eastern Oregon. His sugar-addict, happy-go-lucky father, Bob (Tom Fraser) is seriously ill, as an unemployed graphic designer he doesn’t have much of a direction in life, his grandmother (Wendy Woolery) is desperately plotting a white wedding for him, and to top it all off, his family still refers to him by a name he’s left behind, Angela. To cope, he spends his nights beneath an ancient ponderosa pine in the forest by his home, where he meets sweet, if bumbling, Owen (Brian Lomatewama), a grad student studying the Native American practice of controlled burns to preserve wooded areas.
Directed by Xandria Nirvana Easterday Callahan, MJ Kaufman’s play is a family drama, but a quiet one. The set (designed by Jenny Burkey), is divided into sections, Archer’s family living room, his parents’ bedroom, his grandmother’s living room, and finally the forest with the ponderosa pine. This separation is a poignant representation of the emotional distance the family wants to overcome; the main conflict of the story exists in the negative space of what characters want to say, but can’t. Jasmine Joshua’s performance is a gallimaufry of ability, their rare moments of vulnerability are deeply affecting, but most of the curt defensiveness they display as Archer interacts with his family comes across as petulant and pubescent rather than an expression of deeper emotional turmoil. As Archer’s mother, Tami Kowal is better able to convey the affection that lays below her short tempered snapping and nagging, especially when it comes to trying to keep her husband alive and away from sugar. Tom Fraser’s Bob is the glue that holds the show together, his easy-going, if slightly kooky nature and emotional openness is a refreshing contrast to the rest of the characters, who flounder their way towards open communication when he isn’t around. These instances include when Fraser is operating a puppet, who represents Woolery’s love interest, Peterson, an element that functioned surprisingly well. Although the show struggles with pacing and subtly, it’s still an enjoyable eighty-five minutes that earnestly pushes the characters into the heart of the audience. The show runs for one more weekend at Theatre4 in the Seattle Center’s Armory. Tickets and more info available here.