Review: WATER BY THE SPOONFUL at SF Playhouse

Water by the Spoonful

Written by Quiara Alegria Hudes

Directed by Denise Blasor

SF Playhouse

Park your baggage at the door before experiencing Quiara Alegria Hudes' 2012 Pulitzer Prize winning drama Water by the Spoonful, cause the characters presented here are plenty wounded, damaged, and extremely fragile. Not for the faint of heart, this is the tough stuff of addictions both physical and emotional. It may leave you counting your blessings which makes for compelling theatre.

Part of Hudes' Elliot trilogy, Water by the Spoonful is the second piece expanding on the story of Elliot, a returned Iraq War soldier maneuvering life through the effects of his PTSD and fractured family life. Working at a Subway Elliot (Xander DeAngeles), has a bum leg, a minor acting career and his mom is seriously ill. His cousin Yasmin (Lara Maria), a music professor, is stinging from a recent divorce and feeling disengaged and alone.

In a separate plotline we're introduced to four members of an online addiction recovery chat. Moderator Haikumom (Lisa Ramirez) uses an ancient PC monitor as she facilitates the chat between the hip, young Orangutan (Sango Tajima), the sarcastic 56-year-old black IRS worker Chutes&Ladders (Dorian Lockett), and Fountainhead (Ben Euphrat), a once-wealthy entrepreneur and family man who's having trouble embracing his addiction.

First act action switches quickly between their online conversations that add a breath of humor to the seriousness of their need to engage with others, be it online only. Chutes is a loner, afraid to engage with his estranged son, adopted Orangutan is off to Japan to find her birthplace and birthparents in an attempt to connect, while Fountainhead is hiding his addiction from his wife but slowly acknowledging his disease.

Elliot is haunted by hallucinations of his first kill, these scenes with Salim Razawi as the Ghost skillfully choreographed by Director Denise Blasor. and DeAngeles. With an injured leg and numerous surgeries, Elliot became addicted to painkillers as well. How these two plots are related becomes apparent in the second act when we find that Haikumom is Elliot's birthmother who's crack addiction led to a disastrous tragedy. Elliot blames his young sisters' death on Odessa (Haikumom) for her failure to give her the 'water by the spoonful' needed to stave off dehydration. When Ginny, Elliot's unseen Aunt and surrogate mother dies, the emotions boil over. Odessa relapses and is cared for by Fountainhead who lives in the same city.

The acting ensemble is spot on here, with standout performances by Lockett and Ramirez. Hudes script is sharp and authentic and the staging clever. Appropriate for the COVID isolation we all experienced, the concept of creating family online in not alien. We are human because of our need to connect, and Water by the Spoonful portrays one way people in dire need can get help. However we find nurturing is the right way and redemption is always possible.

Photo credit: Jessica Palipoli

Water by the Spoonful continues through April 23, 2022. Tickets available at 415-677-9596 or online at https://www.sfplayhouse.org/sfph/2021-2022-season/water-by-the-spoonful/