Poor Tracy. A middle-aged woman who volunteers at a zoo as a docent, she doesn't get any respect. The zoo staffers look down on these civilians, and the one zoo-goer we meet, a mother with a baby stroller, is alternately abusive and a sexual tease. And all the officially heterosexual Tracy wants to do is bond with the lemurs �" except when she's admiring zookeeper Nola from afar. "She's as radiant as a raven's wing dressed like a janitor," Tracy says of Nola, before sighing, ambiguously, "She's a keeper."
This is but one of a tangle of stories that take place during a day at the zoo in Tar Gracesdottir's Cage at the no-frills Mojo Theatre (located in the Redstone Building that long housed Theatre Rhino). The play's title and its setting offer up fairly easy metaphors for both the lives of the zoo's occupants and those who are presumably living outside the bars. And while some of those connections are there, Gracesdottir also offers novel situations and a keen ear for rejoinders that ring humorously, uncomfortably, or both amid a general state of absurdity.
Gracesdottir brings a personal perspective to Cage, having worked at zoos as volunteer, intern, and keeper. There is conflict in the playwright's view on zoos, that they are both ways to nurture endangered species and a habitat so unnatural as to defeat the preceding goal. "This whole situation is non-consensual," Nola says of the kept animals, and she's the most animal-empathic worker at the zoo. On the other hand there is numbers-cruncher Gordon, who is all about rebranding and automation. "We want to display healthy detainees," says Gordon, who can foresee a future when zoos are essentially holographic virtual experiences. "The revenue stream will be like a bit-coin on acid," he boasts.
Into this zoological debate, the playwright offers a fraught personal relationship that spills onto the other characters. Administrator Gordon and zoo visitor Rhonda are former spouses, and Rhonda wants her man back, with his annihilation as a second option. They're crazy in different ways, with both going to extremes to neutralize the other. Docent Tracy and zookeeper Nola suddenly are dealing with handguns, a kidnapped anteater, not-so-friendly lemurs, and a corpse.
Not all of Gracesdottir's dialogue provokes the intended reaction, and there are plot, stylistic, and structural issues. But director Scott Baker's antic production for the Performers Under Stress theater company never lacks for a total engagement from the cast. As the docent Tracy, Valerie Fachman bubbles with innocent wonder, at least until Rhonda moves in with her insults and come-ons. We don't have to know the baby-buggy-pushing Rhonda for very long before we know we are dealing with a sociopath, extravagantly rendered by Sara Breindel. As her ex-husband Gordon, Charles Lewis III is a booming presence even though he seldom lets us see much approachable humanity in a mostly one-note bombastic delivery. But Val Sinckler as zookeeper Nola exudes a graceful force with an understated but intense performance.
The program notes for Cage report that Gracesdottir has worked in the zoo industry since childhood, though it is unclear if that applies to her current circumstances. Cage is far from a love letter to the zoo. "Why do people come to zoos?" asks Rhonda rhetorically. "To see animals worse off than themselves."
Cage will run at the Mojo Theatre through May 8. Tickets are $25. Call (415) 585-1221 or go to performersunderstress.com.