‘Exiles’ time travels through the immigrant experience

Camila Moreno (left) as Tata and Michele Selene Ang as Eddie form a life-changing connection on Angel Island in the world premiere of Jessica Huang’s Mother of Exiles at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Peet’s Theatre through Dec. 21. Photo by Kevin Berne

It’s easy to say that a play illuminating the immigrant experience in the United States is especially relevant in this fraught and dangerous political climate – and that would certainly be true. But is there ever a time, over the last nearly 250 years of this country’s existence, when the idea of immigration and immigrants themselves weren’t caught in political drama or subject to the cruelty of Americans? The time for serious, empathetic stories about immigration is always now.

Jessica Huang’s Mother of Exiles, a world-premiere drama at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, takes a bold, lyrically dramatic leap into three centuries of one family’s experiences, from arrival at Angel Island to an environmental catastrophe 165 years later.

Huang divides her 90-minute one-act into three chapters, with the first opening in 1898 as a Chinese immigrant is detained at Angel Island. Eddie Loi (Michele Selene Ang) made the journey to California from China and worked as a ranch cook until it was discovered that Eddie was a woman in disguise. Now imprisoned and waiting for deportation, Eddie also finds herself pregnant with a child whom her ancestors (portrayed in video projections) tell her is going to be the root of their family in the United States.

Emma Kikue and David Mason are part of the Miami-based Border Patrol. Photo by Kevin Berne

This chapter, by far the best of the three, features a passionate, determined performance by Ang as Eddie and by Camila Moreno as Tata, an unlikely ally who will determine the fate of Eddie’s family for generations to come. As dramatically potent as this chapter is, the videos of the ancestors introduces an element of of discomfort from the spiritual realm. Their stilted interaction and squabbling begins to feel less serious and less soulful than what is happening on stage. Still, the connection to the ancestors feels important, even if director Jaki Bradley’s staging undermines that.

Unfortunately, the second chapter, set in Miami in 1999, goes full sitcom, with Eddie’s great-grandson, Braulio (Ricardo Vázquez), working as an officer for the Border Patrol. With a bottle of prune juice and dance moves inspired by Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” the young man conjures the ghost of his great grandmother. Eddie appears on the second level of Riw Rakkulchon’s set, at one point with a birthday party hat and a plate of cake, and the whole notion of the ancestors’ afterlife becomes a giant question mark.

Monica Orozco‍ (front left), ‍David Mason (front center) and Emma Kikue (front right) are a family caught in an environmental catastrophe, while ancestors played by Ricardo Vázquez (rear left) and Michele Selene Ang keep a watchful eye. Photo by Kevin Berne

More sitcom hijinks ensue when a raft full of refugees is spotted, and soon Braulio is hiding a young mother and her baby in his boat and trying to distract his co-workers, all of whom are much more interested in an after-work karaoke than they are in actual border patrol. When the hidden baby squalls, Braulio covers it up by starting to sing a Mariah Carey song, and all of the other officers are fooled. It’s just plain silly.

The third chapter jumps ahead 64 years to a time of global environmental disaster, and though this falls into the realm of plausible science fiction, and the commitment of the actors is never in question, there are too many unanswered questions amid all the startling details (seafood is no longer edible, rainwater is toxic, Cuba has disappeared) for the human drama to fully sink in. Add to that more ancestors-as-guardian-angel action on the set’s second level, and suddenly the impassioned tale of immigrants and their families that started the evening has devolved into something that feels more like a well-intentioned but half-baked Lifetime movie than it does a compelling theatrical saga.

FOR MORE INFORMATINON

Jessica Huang’s Mother of Exiles continues through Dec. 21 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission). Tickets are $25-$135, (subject to change). Call 510-647-2949 or visit www.berkeleyrep.org.