{"id":110306,"date":"2025-09-14T19:47:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T02:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=110306"},"modified":"2025-09-14T19:47:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T02:47:58","slug":"comic-drama-at-masquers-playhouse-deep-dives-into-race-sex-sanity-and-gun-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/comic-drama-at-masquers-playhouse-deep-dives-into-race-sex-sanity-and-gun-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Comic drama at Masquers Playhouse deep dives into race, sex, sanity, and gun control"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wine leads to the release of some inner <\/span><\/strong><\/em>Big Scary Animals<\/span><\/strong> at the Masquers Playhouse. From left are Kim Saunders (Rhonda), Joseph Walters (Donald), David Zubiria (Clark), and Duane Lawrence (Marcus). Photo by Mike Padua.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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By WOODY WEINGARTEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget that human beings are critters \u2014 unless you\u2019re seated in the Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond watching Big, Scary Animals<\/em>. Then you can\u2019t ignore our baser behaviors and instincts.<\/p>\n

If you have any sense of humor at all, you\u2019re apt to spend much of the 90-minute comic drama by Matt Lyle laughing out loud at the dialogue and feral antics of four Homo sapiens, Until the playwright\u2019s \u201ctruth bombs\u201d abruptly smack you between the eyes.<\/p>\n

The hidden biases and contradictions of each character either ooze or explode in unexpected ways at unexpected moments.<\/p>\n

The plotline is simplistic and predictable: A middle-aged, straight white couple relocates to Dallas in 2015, \u201ca simpler time,\u201d to be closer to their granddaughter. But they\u2019ve unintentionally bought into a \u201cgayborhood.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Midway through, all hell breaks loose when a polite dinner conversation with their gay black and Latino next-door neighbors deep dive into sensitive subjects \u2014 race, sex, sanity, the N- and C- words, and gun control, among others. Director Gabriel A. Ross milks all the bathos possible while ensuring that no potential laugh-line is downplayed.<\/p>\n

The entire ensemble cast is superlative, with Kim Saunders standing out as Rhonda, a na\u00efve Christian \u201ccracker\u201d whose inner big, scary animal can be triggered by a single action and a single glass of wine, and David Zbiria as Clark, a flaming, hysterically funny, Latino homosexual whose common sense eventually erases his emotional spasms. Duane Lawrence inhabits the character of Marcus, a serious black college professor whose secrets are bursting to be revealed, paralleling the inner angst and problematic memories of Joseph Walters as Donald, whose wife repeatedly labels him as stupid.<\/p>\n

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Consoling Joseph Walters (Donald, center) are Kim Saunders (Rhonda) and Tristan Rodriguez (Ronnie). Photo by Mike Padua.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Two others \u2014 Natalie Ford as Sophia, a 20ish black \u201cslut\u201d who tries to use her psych-major tools at inappropriate times, and Tristan Rodriguez as Ronnie, the straight couple\u2019s \u201ctroubled\u201d son who\u2019s gently being seduced by Sophia \u2014 do the most with under-developed roles.<\/p>\n

The audience at a Sunday matinee rocked the small theater with laughter and expressed its consummate pleasure during a 30-minute Talk-Back session afterward. One theatergoer summed up the show this way: \u201cIt was heavy butreally <\/em>funny.\u201d Another said, \u201cMy eyes are still wet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The director, meanwhile, said he thought one takeaway from the provocative show should be, \u201cThere\u2019s a good chance that you have something in common with the person you despise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big, Scary Animals <\/em>will run at the Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Sept. 28. Tickets: $30 to $35. Information: 510-232-3888 or info@masquers.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherwood \u201cWoody\u201d Weingarten, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and the author of four books, can be contacted by email at\u00a0voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or on his websites, <\/em>https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0https:\/\/vitalitypress.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        By WOODY WEINGARTEN It\u2019s easy to forget that human beings are critters \u2014 unless you\u2019re seated in the Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond watching Big, Scary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-110306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"