An obituary for María Irene Fornés called her “a transformative off-Broadway figure.” Webster University’s recent staging of her 1983 play, Mud, was a rare but welcome opportunity to see the work of “[a]rguably the most influential American dramatist whose work hasn’t become a staple of the mainstream repertoire.”

Mud is not an easy play to watch. The masterly Webster production was vivid, challenging, and moving. It was a Capstone project by Nathan Shu, a senior in the directing program of the university’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts. Shu’s direction astutely guided the viewer toward an appreciation of Fornés’s art.

Ash Neece’s scenic design was the interior of a dreary, barnlike structure with exposed timbers. At the center rear was large doorway that was dark while audience members were taking their seats. At the start of the play, Audrey Wubbena’s lighting suddenly turned the doorway sky blue for the length of the initial tableau. A woman in front of the opening could be seen in silhouette. Her tattered dress, like the set, was an indication of her poverty.

The two men in the play came onstage from opposite sides as the lighting grew brighter. This visually arresting start establishes the woman as the central character.

Her name is Mae. To eke out a living, she irons, and her companion Lloyd grows corn and raises pigs. He is not pulling his weight, however, in part because of an obvious illness.

Mae and Lloyd have a turbulent, fractious relationship. They are not related, but they have been together a long time. Lloyd’s mother died when he was seven, and his father left him. Mae’s father brought Lloyd into their home to keep her company. She was sad and lonely, and her father was old and tired. He didn’t have the patience to relate to someone young.

Unlike Lloyd, Mae hopes to escape from the mire she lives in by going to school. She is learning to read and do arithmetic. She hasn’t learned enough, however, to read a pamphlet about Lloyd’s ailment she brought back from a clinic. She asks a neighbor, Henry, to read the pamphlet to her and Lloyd.

Henry can read the words, but the pamphlet’s meaning is beyond him. Even so, Mae is impressed with someone who knows more than she does. She invites Henry to replace Lloyd in her bed. Not surprisingly, the hope Henry sparks in Mae is short lived, and the characters’ interactions grow increasingly antagonistic.

The excellent Conservatory cast included Samy Cordero as Mae, Dominic DeCicco as Lloyd, and Jack Kalan as Henry. Their intense characterizations featured diction that encouraged the listener to interpret the action symbolically.

Cordero captured Mae’s yearning to better herself. DeCicco’s Lloyd made a striking transition from pathetic to powerful after receiving treatment for his condition. Kalan and costume designer Anna Beshoar gave Henry the veneer of respectability that charmed Mae. The ease with which the audience could see through the façade helped create a sense of inevitability about Mae’s fate.

Her downward path was reflected in Bee Muzzy’s sound design. The play’s 17 scenes were punctuated by stage pictures that brought back the sky-blue doorway from the opening. Each transition had its own music. The first cuts seemed ancient and liturgical. By the end, the sound left a jarring impression of impending doom.

The visceral power of the conclusion was a tribute to Fornés’s enduring achievement in Mud.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Phillip Hamer Photography
From the left, Jack Kalan  as Henry, Samy Cordero as Mae, and Dom DeCicco as Lloyd in Mud.