Buffalo Theatre Company Capping 2024-2025 Season with “Native Gardens”
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE), the professional Equity theater company in residence at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC), completes its 2024-2025 season with the timely comedy Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías, directed by Steve Scott, Thursday, January 30 – Sunday, March 2. PerformInk calls Native Gardens, “an utter delight” and DC Theatre Scene calls this 90-minute play, “a true breath of comic fresh air.”
Two yards. One fence. Pablo, a high-powered lawyer, and his very pregnant wife, doctoral candidate Tania, have purchased their first home, which is next door to community stalwarts Virginia and Frank. Soon a disagreement over a long-standing fence line derails Pablo and Tania’s plans for the American Dream and erupts into an outrageous clash of taste, class, privilege and entitlement. The hilarious results guarantee no one comes out smelling like a rose in this must-see comedy.
Native Gardens was commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park where it debuted in 2016. Additional engagements quickly followed at the Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater (2017), Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage (2017), Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater (2017), San Diego’s The Old Globe Theatre (2018) and the Pasadena Playhouse (2018). American Theater Magazine listed it as one of the top 10 plays produced in 2018-2019.
A published author, Karen Zacarías’ award-winning plays include the sold-out/extended comedy The Book Club Play, the sold-out world premiere drama Just Like Us (adapted from the book by Helen Thorpe) at Denver Theater Center, the Steinberg-citation award-winning play Legacy of Light, the Francesca Primus Award-winning play Mariela in the Desert and the Helen Hayes Award-winning play The Sins of Sor Juana. Also a writer of musicals, Zacarías’ Chasing George Washington premiered at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and had a national tour. Zacarías is the first playwright-in-residence at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and has taught playwriting at Georgetown University. She is the founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT), a theater company that teaches playwriting in local public schools in Washington, DC. It won the 2010 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the White House as one of the most innovative arts programs in the nation.
The cast features Kelli Walker (Virginia Butley), Bryan Burke (Frank Butley), Sofia Tew (Tonia Del Valle) and Richard Gomez (Pablo Del Valle).
Director is Steve Scott. The design team includes Mara Ishihara Zinky (Scenic Design), Kimberley G. Morris (Costume Design), Garrett Bell (Lighting Design), Christopher Kriz (Composer and Sound Design).
Scott returns for his 10th production at BTE, where he most recently directed The Outgoing Tide. For more than 30 years he served as producer at the Goodman Theatre where he is currently an artistic associate and board member. For tickets to BTE’s production of Native Gardens, visit AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000.
