Review: THE PEOPLE OF POMPEII at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

To the list of artistic creative treasures that belong uniquely to the community of Topanga, we must now add playwright Bernardo Cubria who seems to be producing a new work locally every couple of years. The last two, THE HISPANIC/LATINO/LATINX/LAINTE VOTE and the just-opened THE PEOPLE OF POMPEII have bowed at that other Topanga citadel of creativity, the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. The six-character POMPEII, your basic dinner party gone south disaster comedy, is set during a barbecue in Topanga in the aftermath of the Palisades fires. So the play is both about Topanga and very much for Topanga, and the production co-directed by Ellen Geer and frequent collaborator Xochitl Romero showcases a gem that LATINE VOTE and THE PLAY YOU WANT did not possess. That would be Bernardo Cubria the performer who – playing a confused, between-communities homeowner with an aptitude for interpretive dance – walks off with the production.

The play is a trip, and Cubria has plenty of assistance in taking us along, notably fellow cast members Willow Geer, Aaron Hendry. Amber Luallen, Jon Sprik and Lauren Saffa (Cubria’s real-life wife), many of whom are playing bigger than life individuals. Like the playwright, several of these actors are themselves proud Topangans. Performing as they are in the center of town, in quite literally the House that Geer Built, you’ve got to figure that they have a nightly audience who will get all the hippy in-jokes.

Greater Angelinos will too, as should those interested in the workings of communities and social dynamics. In THE PEOPLE OF POMEII, we witness men vs men, women vs women, bros vs woke, all against the backdrop of a community facing down possible extension. Cubria being Cubria, he also allows us – no make that he urges us – to bust a gut.

The play takes place over the course of a single evening at the home of Carlos (Cubria) and Vera (Lauren Saffa). Following a fire-induced evacuation, Carlos and Vera have  recently returned to their upscale Topanga house (prop master Alex Penner has nicely decorated the Theatricum’s functional but perpetually unlovely split-level set), much to Carlos’s disquiet and Vera’s relief. It was Vera – the earner of the family - who brought them to Topanga in the first place, and she has found her people here. For his part, Carlos gossips with friends about all the crazy names and new-agey customs to be found while harping – probably not inaccurately – about the area’s lack of diversity. Front and center in their home now sits a large, industrial strength air purifier – kind of a monument to the inconvenient fact that life in Topanga is under siege from, of all things, the elements. And more threats are on the way.

First to join the party are Juniper and Evan (Willow Geer and Aaron Hendry), long-time hard core Topangans who have fallen on difficult times. They’ve been burned out of their house, and with recovering addict Evan out of work, the couple is now vegging out to podcasts (him) or cleaning other people’s Air B&Bs (her). Juniper is also having clandestine discussions with divorce lawyers. Last to arrive are Mel (Amber Luallen) and Blake (Jon Sprik) who have oodles of money and claim a certain Topanga OG righteousness that many feel they don’t deserve. She’s the freest of free spirits; he’s a dude bro incarnate. In the midst of the blaze, Blake took to his roof to protect his property, refusing to evacuate and later sharing credit with the firefighters for saving . In so doing, we learn, he also missed the birth of his infant daughter, Runyon. All of the characters are in their 40s with young children.

Juniper and Mel have recently clashed, and Juniper has a four-alarm freak out upon learning that Mel will be in attendance at the party, but the three Topanga  "soul sisters" hug things out and the dinner proceeds up to the point where the men and women pair off for gender-approprpiate conversation, controlled substances are broken out and a few not-so-pretty truths start bubbling to the surface.  

In his previous plays, Cubria the playwright has proven himself to be quite a deft satirist. By assembling this stew of would-be hippies, closet conservatives and a single proud Mexican, he’s firing at some pretty easy targets. Well and good. You figure the playwright must have had a high old time supplying offstage children with names like Echo, Amethyst and Playa. As over the top as these characters threaten to be as written, credit to actors like Willow Geer and Amber Luallen (cheerfully and earnestly offering a chocolate bar made with goji berries and her own daughter’s placenta) that they can play things largely camp-free. As the much lower-key Vera, Saffa grounds the zaniness and serves as the play’s rock.  Amidst chaos – her own family’s and that of her guests – Vera is steady.

On the bro side, Hendry’s sad-sack misery is both palpable and richly comic (he stuffs his face with laced mushrooms with the zeal of a man who walked out of the dessert encountering a drinking fountain). Poor Evan could really use a break and a friend. Sprik infuses Blake with plenty of obnoxiousity, but surprisingly also makes the man not so easy to detest. I was tickled by these alphas sharing a bond over…wait for it…EDM to which they proceed to rock out, shooting down Carlos’s request for a little Bad Bunny (“All that reggae-ton music just sounds the same to me,” sneers Blake).

At the center of the zaniness sits Cubria’s Carlos, a man caught somewhere between his own convictions and, sure, the good-heartedness of the very crazy Topangans who he is trying so hard to loathe. Carlos gets to deliver many of the play’s more reflective monologs including the centuries-spanning disaster parallel that gives the play its title:

“Because mother f---ers love routine so much that they will ignore ALL of the warning signs EVEN ash raining from the f---ing sky and that’s US! That’s Topanga.”

Any man who can convincingly bring off those lines and also perform a wacked-out interpretive dance in celebration of his dinner guests belongs on the stage as well as writing for it. Here’s hoping Bernardo Cubria is hard at work on THE SARACENS OF SANTA MONICA or something even more whacked out.

THE PEOPLE OF POMPEII continues through October 4 at 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga.

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