Play Review: Play shows the loneliness of kids without parents

• Reprints

Remy Ortiz (foreground) and Todd Garcia in "Our Dad Is in Atlantis."

Updated: April 29, 2011 3:46PM

In "Our Dad Is in Atlantis," now making its Chicago area premiere at 16th Street Theater, accomplished Mexican playwright Javier Malpica tells a heart-rending story about two young brothers. The boys were left in the care of an elderly grandmother they hardly knew when their widowed father optimistically heads off to the United States seeking employment.

Little Brother, a boy of 8, and his Big Brother who's 11, are the sole characters in this outstanding drama, performed in 75 minutes without intermission. Both Remy Ortiz, who plays the anxious younger boy, and Todd Garcia, as the older sibling, in their 20s, are substantially older than the boys they portray, but manage to bring a convincing mix of angst and youthful enthusiasm to their roles.

Malpica's fine script, beautifully translated from the original Spanish by Jorge Ignacio Cortinas, unspools in rural Mexico through a series of brief self-contained sketches. Each focuses on a specific topic: "Stuff about . . . Dad (Mom, God and Heaven, Family, the Gringos and the Desert)."

The perceptive dialogue is briskly paced and laced with humor, and it is easy to identify with the rivalry and underlying tensions each boy confronts.

Little Brother, easily cowed, wears his emotions on his sleeve and often takes refuge in fantasies, painting a picture of a heaven where "they show movies all day and night and I could eat a thousand pastries and chocolate malts." He also imagines himself as a star baseball player in America and driving a fancy sports car as a grownup.

Meanwhile, Big Brother is protective of his sibling but still enjoys scaring him with stories of the devil lurking behind a mirror, or threatening to hide a scorpion in his bed. He fancies a girl from the village but feels constrained by not knowing English.

Big Brother also is able to mold "truth" to fit the situation at hand. For example, he tells his brother "All gringos are 7 feet tall and could squash you like a bug." He strikes a nerve with an observation that "people there (in the U.S.) don't like strangers -- except to pick fruit or clean their bathrooms."

Both boys deeply miss their parents and feel like outcasts when living with their stern grandparent and, later, with other relatives where their presence is tolerated but not warmly received. This feeling of loneliness is a subtext of the entire play and eventually drives the boys on a fateful journey.

Under Ann Filmer's assured direction "Our Dad Is In Atlantis" has a steady guide. The production also benefits from Kurt Sharp's simple but effective design, Mac Vaughey's subtle lighting and Barry Bennett's artful sound design.

"Our Dad Is in Atlantis"

16th Street Theater, 6420 16th St., Berwyn. Through May 21. Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays, 5 and 8 p.m. Tickets: $18. (708) 795-6704 or www.16ththeater.org.

Special Home Delivery Offer »