Review: 'Touch the Water' at Cornerstone Theater

Some call the Los Angeles River the “secret river,” a rare section in the heart of the inner city that the Army Corps of Engineers couldn’t tame. It’s directly across from this unlikely spot that “Touch the Water,” Julie Hebért’s play, is having its world premiere.

A mix of contemporary characters, live music and Native American myth, “Water” is the fourth offering in Cornerstone Theater’s Justice Cycle, a series examining the effects, both positive and adverse, of specific laws on communities.

The busy but serviceable storyline revolves primarily around Luis (Cornerstone regular Shishir Kurup), a recently paroled alcoholic, and longtime river resident Isa (Page Leong), who is emotionally ravaged by her younger brother’s gang murder. More eclectic plot lines involve a poisoned sea turtle (Joel Jimenez) and a Native American ghost, embodied by Nadia Reed’s striking puppet design and voiced by Laural Meade, the strongest singer in the show.

The outstanding design elements, particularly Darcy Scanlin’s remarkable set, augment the beautiful natural setting. The play was created in collaboration with various sources too numerous to name, from residents to expert biologists, and the cast includes professional actors and “community participants,” a mix reflected in the uneven performances.

Many oars have been stuck into this “Water,” but director Juliette Carrillo helms the disparate crew masterfully in this unabashedly didactic production, which is not so much a play as a clarion call to environmental action.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Touch the Water,” Bowtie Parcel in the Rio de Los Angeles State Park, Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. Ends June 21. Suggested donation $20. (213) 613-1700 ext 37. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.

Caption: Rachel Garcia as Ardea, a Great Blue Heron in "Touch the Water." Credit: John Luker

Comments

[tardigrade]

his disparate group of actors .....

( dis-p(ə-)rət, adjective, "... containing or made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements")

..... is what makes this play fascinating to participate in and an eye opening experience as to what it means to have your home, not your home. I think the reviewer missed a lot, considering her focus on the acting and singing. You see... Cornerstone Theater is all about the mix of SAG actors and community members. It IS a supposed to be disparate group. Let me help you understand.

I suspect that the reviewer is separated from the issues what Touch the Water is really all about. But then, I think that that is the way most people feel. They are oblivious to the hand of 'eminent domain' until it crashes into their living room. As 'Luis' says in the play, "I think I will call you NIMBY, Not In My BackYard."

As a biologist and someone deeply interested in conservation, for me, this play is a story about power and territory. I hear the words I speak in the play, in meetings of State Agencies and various political groups. "We will put in native plants! Improve air quality! Improve the neighborhood!" but my favorites are, "We have to model sustainability every step of the way!" and "There have to be some sacrifices somewhere..." My character has a vision of what SHE wants to do, and knows all the right words to say to make it happen.

But... people who I hear say these phrases, have no idea what they are talking about, and I include a number of biologists and ecologists. Remember that project called, Biosphere II? It failed because we didn't know enough about the chemistry, physics, microbiology of our world (including our human made world) to keep a few people alive for a few months in a sealed bubble on planet earth. Could we do it better today? No! We still don't know what kind or how many micro organisms live in the human gut let alone in a square yard of backyard dirt.

We spray tons upon tons of pesticides and herbicides just to have a few bowls of salad and a hamburger. What makes us think we can 'mitigate' our destructive projects with native plants? Many published scientific papers demonstrate this sad fact. And yet.... projects of various kinds are built using those words in rooms with leather chairs, as a cover for their real agendas. After all that talk of sustainability, little people loose their homes, their businesses, their forests, their rivers, and their lives.

This story was for the people from 'Frog Town' who lost so much in the hands of bureaucrats and politicians. The story touches on the power of the bulldozer and wealth in freeways that only a few could 'realize.' It was also written for the people of Los Angeles who have no connection to Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Rivers, the Rio Hondo, Coyote Creek, and the Santa Clara River, which are all under attack by County projects for taxable revenue. It was a story about apprecieation of a natural resource money could never create. And about the redemption in connecting with the who we are and what we could be. I love watching the 'animals' dance with the two young people 'high on pot.' It puts people at the same level with all life on earth. I like that.

Cornerstone Theater is ALL about connecting and inviting the community it writes plays for, in the productions. This play was about Environmental Justice, which is defined as the injustice issues that occur to the ignored and under represented people who bare the burden and brunt (economic and health) of the wealthier community's projects, needs, and whims. This play, as Page says, " is a gift." It is far more then a screed for environmental action, but a dialogue of all the parts that play in protecting such things as our water.