ARTS REVIEW: 'AN ITALIAN AMERICAN INDIAN'

(2nd Story Theater, Hermosa Beach, California) Do not call a Sicilian an Italian, for he may confuse himself to be a Native American not by way of India.

 

A production full of intentional misnomers, Angelo Masino’s An Italian American Indian made its world premiere at the 2nd Story Theater inside the Hermosa Beach Community Center on March 18th. Running on Fridays and Saturdays through April 9th, An Italian American Indian is less about misnomers and more about misplaced identity. Evoking the proverbially cliché catch-phrase “Be careful what you wish for,” An Italian American Indian permeates into one man’s struggle to find meaning in life.

 

That man is Marco (Masino, writer-director), a divorced man with a nonexistent writing career who is over the hill and living in a quaint Hermosa Beach home with three teenaged children. All he has in his life is a best friend, a loving girlfriend, a desire to do his children good, and a knack for finding ways to screw it all up.

 

All in all, Marco’s life is dysfunctional. His kids (Jodi Jacobs, Jacob Parisse, Jonathan D’Acunto) not only incessantly argue and bicker with him and each other, but they have a constant need to use their home’s only toilet at the same time. Marco’s best friend (Tim Davis), while loyal, is a degenerate stoner, which does not help Marco get over his addiction to recreational drugs. Meanwhile, Marco managed to find a loving girlfriend (Laree Sobrito), but she struggles to guide her love to the right path.

 

None of Marco’s tangible connections are any match for the battle in his mind--a psychological clash led by the spirit of Geronimo (Joseph Runningfox), the last great Apache warrior who serves as the visual representative of that proverbially cliché catch-phrase “Be careful what you wish for.”

 

As he attempts to get a grip on his life, and everyone associated with it, the question is whether Marco’s world will take a turn for the worst before it shows signs of getting better. Even worse, who is dictating Marco’s downward spiral? His over-loving girlfriend? Perhaps the stoner-loving best friend? What about his toilet-loving children? Or maybe it is none of the above, and Marco himself is the cause for his downfall, what with his imagination-loving head allowing Geronimo to take over his mental state and very being.

 

Through it all, Marco questions his sense of purpose and plays on one piece of Native American numerology: the law of fours. Early in the play, as Marco decides to write his next stage production on Geronimo himself, he unwittingly repeats aloud how he wishes he were dead, opening the door for the spirit of the Apache leader to enter the writer’s head and dictate the course of his life.

 

By play’s end, the intimate audience at the 2nd Story Theater is taken on a journey that is bigger than Marco’s life and sheds light on the true meaning of what matters most in life, as told through a broader commentary of the Native American’s struggle to survive amidst an expanding American empire. 

 

A well-written play with witty dialogue, captivating peaks, balanced valleys, and intelligent humor, An Italian American Indian offers broad perspectives on a variety of aspects of life, whether it be politics, religion, drugs, socio-economic status, even profanity.

 

Among some of the memorable lines in the production are: “That Bush family must be from Hell,” and “This guy is rich and powerful, he doesn’t care about the right thing.” Just the same, when Marco asks his three children to join him at the popular Catholic endeavor of Mass, Michael responds with “What’s a Catholic?” momentarily followed by Maria’s “No one knows!” and Angelo’s immediate quip, “I’d rather go to an A.A. meeting!”

 

Such careful witticisms were balanced with intense dialogue between Marco and the figment of his imagination in Geronimo, including a powerful back-and-forth between both men comparing battle wounds relevant to their respective time periods, a mock battle of sorts, with each man trying to one-up each other, as to diminish the depth and severity of each wound to a quantifiable number and a scientific measure of who is better than the other.

 

It is through this chemistry between Masino and Runningfox that the stage production carries its substantive weight, as the story (and fireworks) that develops between these two characters is so compelling and strong, it is impossible to not become emotionally invested into how the spirit of Geronimo ultimately affects the outcome of Marco’s life.

 

Solid acting across the board, not only does the audience believe Marco to be a deadbeat dad struggling to do good, but we are also taken back a century through Runningfox’s positively stellar rendition of Geronimo. Just the same, when Jacobs, Parisse, and D’Acunto are on stage together as Marco’s collective offspring, they handily and convincingly portray the challenged lives of three siblings close in age while living in tight quarters in a broken home of sorts.

 

Meanwhile, Davis is comically charming as stoner-next-door Todd; Sobrito is equally as delightful as the loving girlfriend who always means well in Jaclyn.

 

Interspersing real-life events with an actual CNN news clip about the battle for Geronimo’s remains presented to the audience right after intermission, An Italian American Indian is ultimately a tale about one man’s journey to seek a better path for him and his family, and the spiritual guidance he encounters along the way.

 

In light of today’s economic struggles and families all across the United States laboring to make ends meet every day, An Italian American Indian, despite its misnomer, may not have all the answers but does attempt to provide the proper tonic and perspective of how to endure through the toughest of times.

 

Playing at 2nd Story Theater through April 9th, An Italian American Indian is produced by Angelvision Productions and Hermosa Arts Foundation.

 

The 2nd Story Theater is located at 710 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach; ticket reservations may be made by phone at (310) 374-9767. Admission is $15.