Stage Reviews : Autobiographical ‘Hybrid’ Lacks Vigor

In her short play “Hybrid Vigor,” which premiered this weekend at the Japanese American Historical Museum, performer-playwright Mari Sunaida sets out to illustrate the genetic and botanical phenomenon that gives the work its title: the particular vitality of the first generation of a hybrid culture.

Sunaida discusses growing up as the child of one Japanese and one Anglo-American parent through a variety of personas: her philosophizing American grandfather; a stentorian lecturer quoting scientific and sociological texts about the mixing of races; a trendy Caucasian woman spouting insensitive remarks about Asians--and herself at eight years of age.

Sunaida is a leader in Los Angeles’ artistic community in addressing current racial issues. In March she produced and directed “Seoul to Soul,” a performance collaboration of Korean and African-American artists, and this summer she produced the spoken-word compact-disc portion of High Performance magazine’s “The Verdict and the Violence” issue.

With “Hybrid Vigor” she takes on vital and potentially fascinating material. Our population grows more racially mixed with every generation, and there is both room and a need for artists to address the frustrations and stimulations of being multicultural in a polyglot society.

But in its current form, “Hybrid Vigor” is an unvigorously autobiographical exercise. Sunaida focuses almost exclusively on the Angst and difficulties of her childhood without relating them to today’s world. Her playing style as well as her subject matter seem disconnected, while relying almost totally on text to tell her story further dulls its effectiveness. The use of other media--music, movement, visual elements--would add to the piece’s vibrancy.

There is potential here for a more effective piece that, given the topicality of the subject matter and Sunaida’s track record, one hopes she will continue to develop.