Off-B'way Review: Queens

 “I did the best I could,” cries the intense Marin Ireland as Renia, a Polish immigrant struggling to justify her questionable actions in abandoning her daughter while pursuing the American Dream in Queens, Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living)’s affecting but overcrowded new play presented by Manhattan Theater Club. The anguished declaration comes at the end of the play as multiple storylines involving eight different women leaving their native land and scrapping by to build a remarkable legacy in the US come together. Majok creates indelible characters and heart-tugging plots, but there’s so much going on, the proceedings can get more than a bit confusing. 

Marin Ireland, Nicole Villamil, Brooke Bloom,
and Nadine Malouf in Queens.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Nevertheless, she makes you feel for these resilient, flawed women by the end of the tumultuous, event-filled evening. Director Trip Cullman’s straightforward, clear-eyed staging, with a big assist from set designer Marsha Ginsberg (more on her amazing environment anon), allows us into this complex world and helps us keep all the stories straight.

The main setting is a crowded basement apartment in the Masbeth section of the titular New York City borough, with a side trip to Ukraine. Ginsberg’s detailed set perfectly evokes the desperate, makeshift life of the characters from the cluttered kitchen to the tiny sleeping areas to the flickering overhead lighting fixtures. Majok trips back and forth in time as well as locale. Initially we are in 2017 Queens as Renia is violently confronted by Inna (heartbreaking Julia Lester), a Ukrainian emigre, who is searching for her mother. (No spoilers, it may or may not be Renia.) From this starting point, we flashback to 2001 when Renia first arrives at the apartment which she shares with Aamani from Afghanistan (Nadine Malouf), Isabela from Honduras (Nicole Villamil) and Pelagiya from Belarus (Brooke Bloom). Eventually we also meet Agata (Anna Chlumsky), also Polish; Lera (Andrea Syglowski) who never makes it out of Ukraine, and Glenys, Isabela’s daughter (Sharlene Cruz). 

Julia Lester and Marin Ireland in Queens.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Majok weaves a vibrant, if busy, tapestry of the women’s stories and how international events beyond their control influences their fates. In the flashback scenes, they reveal how the attacks on the World Trace Center have turned the women into objects of suspicion and hatred. A fleeting dirty look from a stranger in a Jets cap can turn into a traumatic panic. When Poland joins the EU, it dramatically affects Renia and Agata’s status. Trump’s first election puts up roadblocks on the path to citizenship. 

The plotlines can become entangled as we trip back and forth through time and the women come and go. Some return to their homelands, others remain. Heartbreaking stories of previous tenants are related. The proliferation of characters and stories does thickly saturate the play, but the overall effect of powerfully detailing the immigrant experience is achieved.

Sharlene Cruz, Nadine Malouf, Brooke Bloom,
Marin Ireland, and Anna Chlumsky in Queens.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Ireland expertly imparts Renia’s steely determination, devastating demoralization over her separation from her daughter, and resolve to overcome the overwhelming obstacles before her. Lester is her equal as the similarly driven Inna, whose harrowing experiences transform her from a warm girl to a tough-as-leather survivor. Both Ireland and Lester manage to expose Reina and Inna’s vulnerable interior. Bloom, Malouf and Villamil display humor, flintiness, grit and depth as the roommates. Chlumsky, Syglowski, and Cruz make the most of the smaller roles.

The realistic scenes are heartrending, but the high point of Queens arrives when Ginsberg’s set splits apart and the cast becomes a kind of Greek chorus, reciting snatches of phone conversations from the women to their families across the seas. Cullman’s understated staging, Ginsberg’s detailed set, Ben Stanton’s haunting lighting and Mikaal Sulalman’s evocative sound design combine to create a shattering stage picture of women desperately  reaching out for a connection to their past as they pursue an elusive bright future. 

The play’s title is somewhat ironic. It can not only refer to the locale, but also to characters’ status. These women are not rulers, but they are trying to be commanders of their fate. Majok compassionately documents their efforts.

Nov. 5—Dec. 7. Manhattan Theater Club at City Center Stage I, 131 W. 55th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. nycitycenter.org.