Review: PAINTED PONIES Starring Rachel Sorsa at Ruskin Group Theatre

The World Premiere of Ruskin Arts Center's Painted Ponies written by local playwright Ian McRae and directed by Elina de Santos, stars Rachel Sorsa in a tour-de-force performance as Pam, a single mother who is haunted by a past mistake which caused great trauma in her life. “Was it Fate or just bad choices I made,” she asks, that caused her to suffer such emotional stress and pain for the rest of her life? And what inner power allowed her to survive and keep on keepin’ on?

All production photos of Rachel Sorsa taken by Keith Stevenson

The play takes place in small home in Santa Cruz, CA, where she moved after her unplanned pregnancy forced her to relocate. While making peace with regret by recording the story of her life, Pam’s fierce determination to prove it wasn’t her fault such a traumatic event happened to her nineteen years ago, the newly fallen-off-the-wagon woman becomes an affecting portrait of someone who tried her best to be human in an inhumane world - refusing to let loss have the final word. 

As Pam, Sorsa shares how life has been tough to survive as she also acknowledges her power to live through it, determined to let others see she accepts what happened but has never taken responsibility for anything other than her own pain. Central to the story is following along as Pam questions whether Fate or her bad choices caused the tragic disappearance of her beloved 6-year-old-son Michael while riding the carousel at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, a very popular location for crowds of people visiting the famous Boardwalk and its rides.

Pam’s reasoning for it not being her fault, even though she had been drinking at the time and on the phone with her then-boyfriend when Micheal’s ride ended, she believed her son was hiding, as he was known to do, so he could ride it again. So, it was not until he did not show up at their meeting place after the second ride ended that Pam became frantic and realized her son was missing. And only then did she call the police.

And while the case was never solved, as Sorsa runs through the Pam’s deeply-felt emotions and pain while searching for her son, she shares shocking facts about child abductions in her collection of news articles, and final acceptance to not let that trauma destroy the rest of her life or accept being the town pariah, proving how her inner strength and perseverance allowed her to keep living through and beyond the trauma.

But with her Fate out of her hands now due to her terminal illness, with a bottle of very expensive wine and her doctor’s prescribed “wonder drug” to end it all, Pam has decided to end her mental and physical pain and suffering by telling tell her life story one last time by creating a video and hoping it somehow makes its way to Michael wherever he is - so he will know the truth about what happened and just how much his Mom really loved him and tried to find him.

While the story of such a tragic and unexpected loss is universal, given how so many lose a child, a spouse, beloved pet, or close friend in the blink of an eye, the hard-hitting emotional characterization and story told by Sorsa will have you examining your own tragic loss and how or whether you have accepted it and moved on – or let it run the rest of your life. Or do you think Fate took charge to punish you for past mistakes? And of course, we can never really know, so all that matters is how we move on and keep living. And in the end, will we have the strength to end it on our own terms as Pam does when she finishes the recording? Or are we fine with allowing Fate make that decision for us?

Even so, it's difficult to not blame Pam for her inattention, sensing the life-long pain she has felt was deserved. However, Rachel Sorsa’s all-encompassing solo performance will bring you into Pam’s world and how she has lived through such a trauma rather than allowing it to ruin the rest of her life. And what kind of a life has it been? Perhaps the best answer is her success as a bartender, being able to listen to and understand other’s traumas which led them to drink. That she understands.

Sorsa’s extraordinary talent in enveloping Pam as if she was inside her soul, along with Elina de Santos minimally invasive direction by keeping Sorsa seated on the couch center stage to tell her story into her cell phone, will keep your sharp focus on Ian McRae’s monologue honoring human resilience, no matter the circumstances overwhelming you.

And why did he decide to set the story’s traumatic event on the Santa Cruz carousel? Turns out he grew up there in the beach town “that has A VERY OLD merry-go-round as part of its boardwalk. My grandmother, my mother, and my sisters and I rode it. My children have ridden it, and recently I went for a spin on it with my granddaughter. I was thinking about that when telling Pam’s story in Painted Ponies - the ups and downs of life as we circle through it,” he shares.

Perfect title, performance, direction, with Jeff Gardner’s sound effects creating the feeling of locations as Pam describes them – from seagulls overhead to cars whizzing by, to the crowds of people milling around the Boardwalk as the merry-go-round music and sound of rings thrown into the carousel clown’s mouth offer what should have been a fun experience – until it wasn’t. And as someone who lived in Santa Cruz for five years and was also enamored of those original painted ponies, it’s the perfect setting for the ups and downs of life, set to music meant to cheer you up and forget your troubles. Until, as Pam states, Fate can change everything.

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Need more Los Angeles Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...