Review by Ron Fassler . . .
Sometimes a play begins and within minutes you can tell that you’re in the hands of a playwright, director and cast that are not only on the same page but have done the work to create something organically theatrical from the ground up. Seeds get planted, thoughts sprout, and by the end all promise has been handsomely paid off. Talen Monahon’s Meet the Cartozians, which opened tonight at the Signature Theatre Center in a production from Second Stage—“the home of living American playwrights” —is a triumph. Directed with strength and empathy by David Cromer, perhaps the American theatre’s most consistently inspiring director, this is a play that never condescends to its audience all while successfully weaving complex ideas and emotions with a spellbinding fluidity. I was enraptured, particularly due to a cast that features six actors doing work that is surely the kind of acting for which they went into the business in the first place. And it’s significant that in the case of one cast member—Andrea Martin—that this marks a major career achievement for an actress who’s been at this for more than fifty years and has two Tony Awards to show for it.
Told in two acts that take place one hundred years apart, Monahon is interested in what constitutes racial identify and uses her own Armenian roots to tell two separate stories. The two parts turn out to have a character connected by blood, even though the bloodlines have thinned out over time and assimilation. For the first part, the playwright delves into a fictionalization of a true event; when in 1923, Tatos Cartozian, an Armenian immigrant in Portland, Oregon, had to sue the government for his right to become an American citizen. At issue was whether an Armenian was white or “other” because, at that time, only white men could become U.S. Citizens. Tatos, played with dignity and pathos by Nael Nacer in a beautiful performance, hires a non-Armenian lawyer, Wallace McCamant, son of Irish immigrants, to take on his case. Will Brill, who won the Tony Award two seasons back for his drugged out, British rock musician in David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, is astonishing as McCamant. The characterization, so true to his times (and so different from Stereophonic), projects a rigid man trying to do the right thing while unsteadily navigating his mind and heart. As Tatos’s son and daughter, Raffi Barsoumian and Tamara Sevunts are simply wonderful. With their immigrant statuses meaning different things for their personal goals and pursuits, they are never less than one hundred percent believable. Finally, there is Grandmother Rose, played artfully by Ms. Martin, raising scene-stealing to a level of high art. Never gratuitous or showy (Cromer has made sure of that), she still manages with every sigh, gesture, and declaration to showcase a woman who every family has ever had to love and endure. It’s a performance to treasure.
The second part is more satiric. During Act One, I was reminded of the well-constructed family drama of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing. During the second, I thought about Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview. Anyone familiar with these two plays will understand what a contrast that is. In truth, Monahon is more successful with the first act. But I appreciated the guts it took to go where she does with the second act. It’s bold and daring and eventually, when it swings back to the discussion of what constitutes a white person, we’re once again on solid ground and the two plays become one. This is where the title Meet the Cartozians meets the title of the long-running TV series Meet the Kardashians. The living room in the house of the first play set in Portland is transformed during intermission to the living room of a house in Glendale, California one of the top cities in America that boasts a large Armenian population. This is 2024 and some respected members of the community are gathered in a private home to film an episode of a reality TV series that should seem very familiar to anyone who’s ever heard the name Kardashian. You can argue the whys and wherefores, but the Armenian name Kardashian show up as three of the top ten most followed Instagram personalities in the world (Kim and her sisters Kylie and Khloe). The gap of a century between the two parts offers a sharp difference in how these modern Armenians view themselves and their traditions than an earlier generation did which had many more ties to the old country. The Armenian genocide is discussed as are a great many subjects, making for fascinating dialogue all while spinning plates simultaneously in the air. Both parts are also frequently very, very funny. Monahon has a dazzling gift for making us laugh as well as touching us deeply.
I’ve purposely stayed away from being specific about many delightful details in Meet the Cartozians because I went in with fresh eyes not knowing a thing about it and that’s the ideal way to see it. Just know that the characters each actor is assigned in Act One and Act Two are, for the most part, wildly different and that Susan Pourfar, who only gets a cameo in the first part, gets a chance to shine brightly in the second. Not exhibiting a false moment, her portrayal of a proud, Armenian woman is a highpoint.
Tatiana Kahvegian’s scenic design matched to Stacey Derosier’s highly effective lighting are sincerely good. Enver Chakartash’s costumes that can’t be topped and there is a fine sound design from Lee Kinney. As for David Cromer, I have been following all he’s done over the past twenty years with keen interest ever since he made his New York debut as a director with his Steppenwolf production of Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow. Wildly prolific in comedy, drama and musicals (his sole Tony to date was for his gorgeous Band’s Visit), his work, wherever it’s being done, demands to be seen. Full stop. And Meet the Cartozians is as good as anything that bears his name. Most importantly, the play also marks the arrival of a sharp and still relatively new voice to the stage in Talene Monahon. This engagement is a limited one (though I expect it will be extended) and is scheduled to close December 7th. For ticket information, please click here.
Meet the Cartozians is playing at the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street, NYC.
Photos by Julieta Cervantes.
Headline photo: Will Brill, Tamara Sevunts, Andrea Martin, Raffi Barsoumian, and Nael Nacer.
