As the saying goes, sometimes if you want something to exist, you have to make it yourself.
When planning this season at the Diversionary Theater, artistic director Sherri Eden Barber took the aphorism to heart, commissioning Diversionary’s first main stage production, “Straddle,” in more than a decade.
She made the 40th season theme “Love as Revolution,” with the first musical, “Manifest P,” celebrating self love, then “To My Girls,” examining intergenerational love in a chosen family. The season’s last remaining show, a reprisal of “Rent,” looks at love in community.
Barber wanted the third show to investigate love as sex. But in scouring 70 different works, Barber couldn’t find precisely what she was looking for: Two women over the age of 40 who weren’t the butt of the joke.
Summer Broyhill holds Marti Gobel in Marti Gobel in “Straddle” at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. (Photo by Xingyu She/Diversionary Theatre)“I just think we’re such beautiful, full, whole beings. And why aren’t we, particularly sapphically, seen and represented… after we hit a certain point? Especially as mothers, as women… and Gen X is having some of the best sex of their lives right now,” Barber said on opening night. “I was like, ‘All right, if I can’t find it, let’s make it, and I know the person who I want to make it with.'”
So, she got in touch with the playwright who recommended her for the artistic director job in the first place. Harrison David Rivers quickly wrote a blueprint for Barber’s concept, leaving Barber, who directed the piece, and the actors to revise the dialogue.
The resulting work features two women celebrating their wedding anniversary with a hotel trip while their kids are at grandma’s. Their fire for each other remains after more than a decade of marriage, but simmering beneath their skin is an unspoken conflict it takes until the final moments of the 75-minute play to reveal.
“Straddle” playwright Rivers said the commission timeline was faster than he normally agrees to, but for Barber and for Diversionary, the theater that gave him his artistic start 15 years ago, he agreed to whip something up.
“I said yes, because I love it here and because I love Sherri. I wouldn’t probably have said yes to the ask otherwise,” Rivers said. “But I love it here, and I love this audience, and I love the actors and the designers and the folks who are pouring their hearts into the artistic landscape here.”
Last year, his achingly sad family drama “We Are Continuous” played at Diversionary starring Marti Gobel. The unsurpassed actor returned Rivers’ work as Vita in this fiery and funny script.
Across from her, Summer Broyhill made her Diversionary debut as Dodie, the more affectionate and free-spirited spouse.
Summer Broyhill and Marti Gobel star in the play “Straddle” at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. (Photo by Xingyu She/Diversionary Theatre)In the opening scene of the play, which does contain partial nudity, Gobel takes off her jacket to reveal a sexy white nurse’s costume but Broyhill stomps around in her revealing leather cowpoke outfit. It should have been the first sign that the married couple was misaligned. But being in two different roleplay scenarios didn’t stop a steamy tango that made at least one audience member question if he was actually gay.
As the adventurous start to the anniversary weekend fades, the pair careens between nostalgia and jealousy, rage and tenderness, care and indifference, bitterness and delight. Some of their arguments felt incoherent, but long-married couples are frequently illegible to outsiders. The final confession explained much of their erratic behavior, as Broyhill avoided tough conversations while Gobel lashed out.
Broyhill and Gobel proved themselves to have amazing facial control, communicating the rawness of feelings toward each other. They delivered arresting monologues as well, although those monologues could stand to be more revealing of the eventual plot.
The rushed script may be fine-tuned over time, but its current iteration shows Rivers’ excellent pacing as well as Barber;s rhythm as director. Each time dialogue edged towards too intense, a humorous moment perfectly balanced the tone.
The lighting, scenery and sound were cinematic in scope.
The show marks the first time it’s ever rained on Diversionary’s stage, an ambitious technical feat from scenic designer McKenna Perry. The verisimilitude of the hotel room she designed was stunning.
Marti Gobel as Vita speaks with her mother-in-law and children over the phone in “Straddle” at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. (Photo by Xingyu She/Diversionary Theatre)The design aspects were extraordinarily detailed and thoughtful. Annelise Salazar’s lighting made the static set come alive. Hunter Kaczorowski’s costumes were seamlessly sexy. Remus Harrington’s sound design was flawless. And rounding out the creative team, Jaz Villalino served as stage manager.
The world-premiere production at Diversionary Theatre in Normal Heights at 4545 Park Blvd. has shows through March 15 with 7 p.m. showings on Monday, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday as well as 2 p.m. matinee showings on Sundays. Find tickets here, or call the box office at (619) 220-0097.
Discounted $45 tickets are also available for San Diego Theatre Month.
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