Theater: “Regrettably, So the Birds Are” @ Playwrights Horizons
In the playbill for “Regrettably, So the Birds Are,” playwright Julia Izumi writes: “I’m not an adoptee. I'm not Cambodian. I don't have siblings or white parents. As a mono ethnic Japanese-American, I have never been uncertain of my cultural identity. I'm not even tone-deaf.”
True, but her play is a little bit about all of those things, as well as something to do with “earth-to-sky migration.” None of these elements makes much sense by itself, but put them all together and it works—very well.
The Whistler siblings, Illy (Sasha Diamond), Neel (Sky Smith) and Mora (Shannon Tyo) are all Asian adoptees, but their whacked-out mother Elinore (Kristine Nielsen) refuses to tell them their birth countries. Actually, she can’t tell them much anyway, as she’s in jail for murdering her husband (Gibson Frazier). Apparently she set the den on fire with hubby—and their adoption records—trapped inside.
Complicating issues further is the fact that brother Neel and sister Illy have fallen for each other. “We’re not blood-related!” they cry out in their defense. Older sister Moira meanwhile finds out that her birth country begins with a “C” (she guesses it’s Cambodia) and heads there to find her birth mother. “It can’t be China,” her unhinged mother says. “China is famous.”
The laughs keep coming, particularly during the first hour, thanks to Nielsen, whose comic timing and delivery turn every sentence into a side-splitter. She is nearly matched in comic deftness by Tyo, whom we loved in “Peerless” (Primary Stages), “The Far Country” (Atlantic) and “The Chinese Lady” (the Public). When you’re as talented as they are, you tend to work a lot.
Unfortunately, what made little or no sense was the introduction of bird puppets, and at this lint the play crossed the line from LOL-funny to head-scratching. But no matter. By this point in the proceedings you’re so tired from giggling, you barely notice. Well done, Playwrights! Keep ‘em coming. Please.