“Snow Falling on Cedars”
It’s tough not to feel at least a little invested in the Vintage Theatre’s production of “Snow Falling on Cedars.”
That has a lot to do with atmosphere. Director Sam Wood stages the murder-mystery/courtroom-drama in the Vintage’s black box theater, an intimate space with a capacity of 80. During terse courtroom scenes, actors sit side-by-side with audience members and cry out at dramatic revelations. In the scenes set on the ships that navigate the waters around the fictional San Piedro Island in Washington state, Tim Barbiaux’s maritime set inescapably looms in the center of the space. The wooden beams and shallow pool of water at center stage make the ocean feel impossibly close.
That feeling of immediacy helps keep this challenging drama afloat. Based on the award-winning novel by David Guterson, “Cedars” takes place in a fictional West Coast community in the decades leading up to World War II. A murder case against Kabuo Miyamoto (Dale Li) is the springboard for flashbacks that tell the story of a divided community.
We learn of the struggles of Miyamoto’s family, Japanese-Americans deported to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. We learn that Miyamoto’s wife, Hatsue (Arlene Rapal), had a taboo relationship with Ishmael Chambers (Benjamin Cowhick) before he was sent off to war and before her family went to the camps. We see that the family of the murder victim, Carl Heine Jr. (Brian Brooks), had a tense history with the Miyamotos over a question of land.
All of these strains come together in a murder trial that raises questions of race, allegiance and the challenge of letting go of emotional scars. Apart from some clunky moments in the first act, Wood carves a graceful and moving path through a dense storyline. That journey finds fluency in some standout performances. Rapal and Cowhick offer strong emotion in bringing the backstory of Hatsue and Ishmael to life. As Nels Gudmundsson, Miyamoto’s public defender, Roger Simon offers gravity and insight.
These performances help ground an intricate tale. Along with the staging and the ambiance, the effect is immersive.
“Jackie and Me”
Audience members have to accept a lot of givens very early in “Jackie and Me.”
First of all, it should be known that the hero, 12-year-old Joey Stoshack (Aaron Davidson) is magic. When Stoshack, an obsessive baseball fan, holds a vintage baseball card in his hands, he can travel back in time. It’s a power that his parents (Timothy McCracken and Diana Dresser) already know about before the show’s first scene. Indeed, when Joey gets assigned a report on Jackie Robinson for school, they reluctantly agree to let their son travel back in time to 1947 to watch the legendary player break Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Don’t worry, they make him pack a sandwich.
While odd, that funky sense of exposition in this baseball fantasy isn’t the major downfall of this show by Steven Dietz. Based on the children’s book by Dan Gutman, the premise assumes the audience will catch on to the fact that Joey has already traveled back in time to meet Honus Wagner in the story “Honus and Me.”
The real head-scratching moments here come in trying to nail down the intent of the piece. Joey uses his magic power to travel to 1947 and undergoes a profound change in the process. When he lands in the office of Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Michael Santo), he finds his skin tone has changed. When he meets Robinson (played with a quiet and powerful dignity by William Oliver Watkins), Joey finds he has to face the same brand of racism and vitriol that the player faced on the field.
The story offers promise, but the mood of the show flips between gravity and comedy in a way that can be disorienting. Watkins’ performance as Robinson is a highlight of the show, but it comes among dialogue that feels oversimplified. Finding a way to frame the racism of the era in a show for children is a challenge, and that balance doesn’t always seem to work. The more profound moments feel diluted by silly sight gags and jokes about the Yankees.
Still, director Stephen Weitz has included plenty of treats for baseball fans. A stage floor designed by Lisa Orzolek and painted as a collage of baseball cards is a visual treat in and of itself.
Unfortunately, such touches don’t entirely make of for the cognitive gaps in the story, clashes of tone that are hard to take as givens.
“Snow Falling on Cedars”
Runs through Dec. 15, Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St.
Tickets start at $25.
Information: 303-856-7830 or vintagetheatre.com.
* * *
“Jackie and Me”
Runs through Dec. 22 at the Space Theatre at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets start at $29.
Information: 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org.
* * 1/2