Lost Sock Laundry
Written by Ivan Faute and Directed by Madelyn Chapman
Fort Washington Collegiate Church, 729 W 181st St., NYC
April 10th to April 27th
Michelle Feza Kuchuk, Haneen Arafat Murphy, Maria Peyremaure Photo by Jody Christopherson
Here’s one of the myriads of reasons I love seeing theatre beyond the bright lights of Broadway: repurposed spaces. I even wrote an article about them for untapped new york almost a decade ago. However, Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Washington Heights is an active church. A perfect setting for Ivan Faute’s “Lost Sock Laundry”, under the creative and expansive direction of Madelyn Chapman, a play about the immigrant story in a laundromat in Astoria, Queens (The World’s Borough). The multi-level set sits in front of the altar, a place of communion. The Progress Pride flag and the Black Lives Matter flag hang to the sides over the audience/congregation reminding us of the rights of the marginalized (“those kind of people”) that are dealing with “the system”, two themes resonating throughout the play.
The System is represented nationally, locally, and in this case within the confines of a laundromat. There are always too many rules: don’t use too much detergent, share the time, that machine is “inoperative”. As someone whose family owned a laundromat, I do remember some of the rules but I also remember the community that thrived – a microcosm of the neighborhood.
So, a Greek, a Lebanese, and a Mexican walk into a laundromat may sound like the beginning of a cliché but what we are asked to do is listen and examine our own journeys. Anyone can identify with these women: Irene, the sardonic second-generation Greek played by Michelle Feza Kuchuk; Dina, a recent immigrant from Lebanon who is simply trying to navigate the system played earnestly by Haneen Arafat Murphy; Micaela, a first generation Mexican overwhelmed with managing her family vibrantly played by Maria Peyremaure. Rounding out the ensemble is Fernando A. Mateo, Jr, distinctly and artfully playing multiple roles as the laundromat owner (Aram), Micaela’s hardworking yet seemingly lazy husband (Jorge), and Irene’s rageaholic boyfriend (Eric); Yasmin Ranz-Lind playing Sana, Dina’s daughter, trying to get through the daily grind of school; and Jesse Castellanos as Kelvin, Micaela and Jorge’s son who is figuring out who he is in this world, a dreamer but not a DREAMer. The play runs about 90 minutes which scratches the surface of the characters’ story arc. Introducing the heaviness of racism and xenophobic rhetoric reminds us that hurt people, hurt people, and also piques the interest to the source.
The transition of time with each scene was signaled through the projection of moments - DACA, policy, refugees, migrants, child soldiers, court rulings, earthquakes, and hurricanes which was informative but was not integral to plot.
Politicizing basic human rights through policymaking continues to dilute the basic tenets of human rights. Immigrants take a risk by leaving their homeland on the hope for next best possibility. No one chooses to be displaced but it is in conversation, a safe space, that one can see how we are more alike than different. We are all lost socks in some way.
Produced by UP Theatre.
Click HERE for tickets. Note dates that offer Spanish-language translation and ASL interpretation.
Reviewed by Malini Singh McDonald.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on April 13th, 2024. All rights reserved.