Review of Native Gardens, Hartford Stage
"Good fences make good neighbors," the old saying goes, indicating that a clear demarcation between properties keeps things pleasant. In Karen Zacarías' Native Gardens, now playing at Hartford Stage through May 10, directed by Nicole A. Watson, a bad fence, wrongly placed, nearly brings good neighbors to all out warfare in an upscale community in Washington DC. As in the best situation comedies, the situation invites laughs at absurd exaggeration while pushing buttons that trigger a range of reactions.
Pablo (Bradley Tejeda), Tania (Alina Collins Maldonado), Frank (Greg Wood) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
On either side of an ugly chain-link fence adorned with ivy sit two backyards, not equal in dignity. On the left, no landscaping, a back deck, a house with siding, and at the side a large tree crammed uncomfortably close to that fence. On the right, a brick house with a sliding-glass door to a patio, and a roomier yard with a table and chairs at the center and, all around the periphery, large crates acting as planters for a cornucopia of colorful plants. The house on the right belongs to Frank and Virginia Butley, an older couple, white, Republican; each year, Frank's labors on his garden fail to earn more than Honorable Mention in the neighborhood competition. The house on the left belongs to Pablo and Tania del Valle, younger, Latinx, Democrats; Pablo, from a well-to-do family in Chile, works at a top law-firm and hopes to make partner; Tania is pregnant, expecting to deliver soon, and is working on her doctorate. Her ideal garden differs greatly from Frank's.
Tania del Valle (Alina Collins Maldonado), Frank Butley (Greg Wood) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
In the early going, we're simply entertained by how the couples try to entertain each other. The Butleys are gracious, giving out red wine and dark chocolate as though sacramental. The younger couple are impressed by their neighbors' style of life, but faultlines get established early. Tania claims "passionate rationality" about such things as: how to create a garden that promotes the indigenous ecosystem rather than "colonizing" the area with imported plants that spoil what nature intended. To Frank, Tania's plans amount to growing weeds deliberately to invite more insects rather than remove them as threats to his delicate blooms. Zacarías' script initially seems a gentle sendup of the kind of generational clashes inevitable when Boomers, once deemed progressive and aware, find themselves confronted by the idealistic and didactic younger generation.
Frank (Greg Wood), Tania (Alina Collins Maldonado), Virginia (Judith Lightfoot Clarke), Pablo (Bradley Tejeda) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
Both couples can agree on one thing right away: that fence has got to go! The del Valles want to replace it with a fence of natural wood. And they want to do it right away, in time for a barbeque Pablo feels he needs to host to establish himself socially at the firm. Then comes the surveyor, and then the real fun starts.
Tania (Alina Collins Maldonado), Pablo (Bradley Tejeda), Frank (Greg Wood) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
The comedy almost at times becomes slapstick, and the cast are game. As Virginia, Judith Lightfoot Clarke tends to be wry and dry, until she goes so far as to chain herself to a planter in fierce defiance of her neighbors' garden plot. Alina Collins Maldonado plays Tania as highly reactive from the start, willing to take issue with her husband's assertiveness or her neighbors' casual racism, assuming Tania is from Mexico when she's from New Mexico. Maldonado plays Tania as a live wire crackling with energy. She's well matched by Bradley Tejeda's Pablo who likes to do dance steps and lets his wife's "passionate rationality" sway him, even though he finds Frank's gardening pretty and tasteful. The late night scene when Pablo and Frank get into a frank exchange of views is particularly strong, where escalation of hostilities becomes a point of pride. Greg Wood's Frank is the most nuanced portrayal, capturing well how easy it is to be nice within a bubble of privilege and how uneasy Frank becomes when confronted with a challenge from an unexpected quarter. He's by turns paternal, patronizing, petulant, and eventually pissed off.
Pablo (Bradley Tejeda), Frank (Greg Wood) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
The amphitheater stage at Hartford Stage suits this play remarkably well. Situated above the backyards, the audience can take in the full spectacle of Lawrence E. Moten III's set, which undergoes its own form of character development, aided by a trio of workers. Carla Astudillo-Fisher, Mia Lozada, and Aidan Ramirez enact landscapers tasked with removing the fence, and conduct actual scenic labor while also keeping up a party-time atmosphere that insinuates a Latinx element we sense is new to the neighborhood. When Tania, provoked, curses at Virginia in Spanish, the workers' reactions show how far we are beyond the limits of polite difference of opinion.
Tania (Alina Collins Maldonado), Virginia (Judith Lightfoot Clarke), Frank (Greg Wood) in Native Gardens, Hartford Stage; photo by T. Charles Erickson
All in all, Native Gardens is a comic, domestic border dispute that lets us see how easy it is to find evil intentions in anyone we don't agree with. In the end, the couples see reason without recourse to court or therapy or counselling or violence. If only such sensible negotiation could flourish on more soils.
Native Gardens
By Karen Zacarías
Directed by Nicole A. Watson
Scenic Design: Lawrence E. Moten III; Costume Design: Ivania Stack; Lighting Design: Carolina Ortiz Herrera; Sound Design: Joyce Ciesil; Wig & Makeup Design: Jodi Stone; Fight Coordinator: Michael Rossmy; Vocal Coach: Cynthia Santos DeCure; Casting: Alldaffer & Donadio Casting; Production Stage Manager: Gracie Carleton; Assistant Stage Manager: Elise Joyner; Associate Artistic Director: Zoë Golub-Sass; Director of Production: Bryan T. Holcombe; General Manager: Emily Van Scoy
Cast: Judith Lightfoot Clarke, Alina Collins Maldonado, Bradley Tejeda, Greg Wood; with Carla Astudillo-Fisher, Mia Lozada, Aidan Ramirez
Hartford Stage
April 17-May 10, 2026