Review: PULLMAN, WA at The Phoenix Group

Young Jean Lee’s PULLMAN, WA is getting its regional premiere as the debut production of The Phoenix Group this weekend. The show only runs through Sunday, August 17th, so it’s a quick run.  I would encourage you to go without reading this review; it’s marvelously well-done. Part of the charm of this piece is going in cold and being surprised by what happens, and trust me, that is the way to go. Come back here after you have seen it for yourself. I promise this review will still be here. But if you want to read on, I am not going to dissuade you. I will try to hold back “all the surprises.” 

Young Jean Lee is a celebrated American playwright who was born in South Korea and came here when she was two. She grew up in the town of Pullman, Washington, and this is the reference that originates the title of this work. Typical of most of her writing, PULLMAN, WA has no conventional narrative and comes from an absurdist tradition of theater. In short, it is the audience watching a seminar on “How to Live,” and it goes hilariously wrong at every turn. You see, this is way too complex a question, and the speakers just may well be simply facets of the playwright’s logical, childish, and religious sides. 

It strikes me as odd that no theater in Houston has attempted this one, and that this is the regional premiere. But enter stage right, a new theater company in Houston named The Phoenix Group. ​​​​​​And boy, are they out of the gate with a big bang! Director Domenico Leona and Associate Director Ashley Galan have taken on the task of producing this challenging script that calls for them to let three feral actors loose in a theater for just over an hour and ten minutes. The staging is wholly inventive and unlike any production of PULLMAN, WA that has been out there. I loved the little surprises they have come up with to present this one, to give it their own spin. 

The trio of actors in PULLMAN, WA, turn the volume up to 11 and let the crazy fun fly. Angela Pinina, Kiya Green, and Joshua Harris are hysterically super committed to telling us “How to Live.” Angela is an old pro here in the Houston Theater scene, and she knew a good portion of the audience on opening night. She kicks everything off with a confidence and grace that is only surpassed by her comedic timing. Kiya and Joshua are both fresh out of school, and they are putting their Theater degrees to excellent use by creating two of the fiestiest and funniest life coaches I have ever seen. Kiya has no fear and walks right into the audience to ask searing questions. She is electric! Joshua is a found treasure. He is so physically committed to everything he does, and he has a nuclear-powered sense of comedic timing and vitriolic delivery. I can’t wait to see what these two crazy kids do next, and I am always happy to see Angela up there doing her amazing thing. This is great casting! 

The show’s absurdist slant shouldn’t intimidate anyone. Yes, it is poetic, non-narrative, and stream of consciousness, but it is also wholly relatable and easy to get into. It probably helps that Domenico Leona is a poet, and that Ashley Galan just knows theater so dang well. They and this cast pull off a really radical, well-realized regional premiere for a play by a complex and compelling force in American Theatre. If the Phoenix Group is this fiery right out of the gate, I can’t wait to see what is next. Burn on, pretty bird, burn on.