Carpenter Square Theatre Presents Backyard Comedy NATIVE GARDENS

Carpenter Square Theatre's Season 41 will continue with "Native Gardens," a comedy by Karen Zacarias which enacts a backyard battle for the ages. Performances are May 23-June 8, 2025 at the theatre's venue located at 1009 W. Reno in downtown Oklahoma City.

With ten performances scheduled over three weeks. Specific dates and times are: 8 p.m. Fridays -Saturdays, May 23-24, 30-31, and June 6-7; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, May 29 and June 5; and 2 p.m. Sundays, June 1 and 8.

When expecting parents Tania and Pablo Del Valle move in next door to longtime residents Virginia and Frank Butley, a dispute over their yard's property line spirals into an epic, flower-flinging war over taste, class, personal identity...and gardening. Pablo is anxious to make partner at his new law firm, and as he plans a backyard barbecue for them, it inflames the tension over the future of the Butley's "perfect" backyard. Cultures clash and bad behavior reigns as the two sets of well-intentioned neighbors become feuding enemies. Will these couples ever learn to love their neighbors and mend the fences that separate them?

Rhonda Clark directs a cast comprised of veteran performers combined with newcomers to the Carpenter Square stage. Terry Veal and Elin Bhaird are the very set-in-their-ways Butleys, an older couple who have lived in Washington, D.C. for many years. Jonathan Lynch and Catherine O'Hara are the young Latinx couple who move into the fixer-upper next door. Frank Butley is very proud of his traditional English-style garden, but the very pregnant Tania shocks the Butleys when she plans a native garden, which they consider to be weeds. All four actors have great fun, especially as the Culture Clash escalates.

The Production Team includes stage manager Jae Anifowose. Set design is by Ben Hall, and the light design is by Jamison Rhoads. Costumes are by Elin Bhaird, and props are by Rhonda Clark. Rick Allen Lippert handles sound design for the production.

The theater is pleased to display the artwork of Jo Swigart in the Tannenbaum Gallery during the play's run. Her artwork is inspired by nature and the natural world with the addition of some fantasy.