Kinan Valdez is the love interest of supernatural researcher Karole Foreman in 'Restless Spirits' at San Diego Rep.
A San Diego Repertory Theater presentation of a play in two acts by Allan Havis. Directed by Sam Woodhouse.
Jessie - Karole Foreman
Felix/Diego - Kinan Valdez
Benny/Rubio - Raul Cardona
Phyllis - Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson
Martin/Hamadi/
Professor Blank - Wendell W. Wright
Winchester - Jim Chovick
Quee/Tina Richards - April Doctolero
Chantelle/ Jesse's Daughter - Bibi Valderrama
Samantha - Zoe Eprile
For 30 years, the San Diego Repertory Theater has been driven by a desire to map the attitudes and experiences of people in the San Diego/Tijuana region. With the debut of Allan Havis' exasperating mystery play "Restless Spirits," the company has taken a hapless detour into metaphysical terrain. Based on more than 200 interviews, mostly conducted in San Diego's ethnic and immigrant communities, about ghosts, spirits and connections between the living and the dead, the play is stuffed with good intentions and dramatic possibilities, but it's also sprawling, confusing and sometimes downright silly.
In this self-consciously inclusive and dutifully multicultural work, Havis attempts to weave together a handful of ghost stories, a romance or two and a creepy subplot based on the notorious 2002 murder of a 7-year-old local girl, Danielle van Dam. Add in an exorcism, an immaculate conception, an attempted suicide (plus backstories about two more) and a border-crossing tour of haunted locales and you get a sense of the project's wide-ranging ambition and fatal lack of focus.
Fortunately for Havis and overwhelmed producer-helmer Sam Woodhouse, some fine, hard-working actors bring pathos, humor and some narrative sense to this supernatural potpourri.
Rep favorite Karole Foreman is a companionable presence as Jessie Gordon, a 39-year-old doctoral student who is researching local beliefs about the spirit world and is herself blessed (or cursed) with second sight. Her love interest is Felix (Kinan Valdez), a passionate elevator operator who may or may not be alive (we never really find out).
Haunted by her father's suicide, her uncle's sexual abuse and her own ghostly visions, Jessie embarks on a quest that takes her into such tantalizing narrative ground as Somali folklore (embodied by the big-spirited Wendell Wright, who doubles as Jessie's spooky dad) and Malay "toyol" mythology (spelled out by April Doctolero). Jessie's journey also leads her into comic showdowns at the IHOP with her good-hearted mother (Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson) and a loony, action-hero match-off with child killer David Winchester (Jim Chovick).
All this takes place on Robin Sanford Roberts' multipurpose, abstract set, built from a few iconic architectural forms drawn and heightened by Victoria Petrovich's astute projections and Jennifer Setlow's moody lighting.
Not even the finest cast and design crew, though, could transform this wispy pastiche into a flesh-and-bones theatrical event. In trying to do too much, the play ultimately accomplishes little beyond hinting at the complex spiritual life of this multiethnic, sun-spackled city.
Set, Robin Sanford Roberts; costumes, Melanie Watnick; lighting, Jennifer Setlow; projections, Victoria Petrovich; sound, George Ye; choreography, Jean Isaacs; production stage manager, Dana Victoria Anderson. Opened and reviewed Feb. 3, 2006; runs through Feb. 19. Running time: 2 HOURS, 15 MIN.
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Date in print: Wed., Feb. 8, 2006