http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/fe_theater/ ... 27,00.html

Play laces tragedy with humor
By Ollie Reed Jr.
Tribune Reporter
June 9, 2006

Being performed now when immigration issues are such a hot topic, it'd be easy to think of Lisa Loomer's play "Living Out" as only the story of undocumented immigrants.

After all, it is about Ana, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who works as a nanny for a white lawyer couple in Los Angeles.

But Teri Sweeney, who is directing the play at Albuquerque's Sol Arts Performance Space and Gallery, says "Living Out" is as much about the challenges of motherhood as it is about the issues of immigration.

"If the play were only about immigration, it would have been easy to make all the American moms villains, and that's not what happens," Sweeney says. "What jumps out at me is that this is about moms (Americans and illegal immigrants) working very hard for the same dreams. But because they come from different backgrounds, they have different results."

Ana is married to Bobby. They work hard to make a good life for themselves and their 6-year-old son, Santiago, and to make it possible to bring Tomas, Ana's 11-year-old son from a previous relationship, to America from El Salvador. Ana has not seen Tomas for eight years.

Nancy is married to Richard, and they are the parents of an infant daughter, Jenna. Nancy and Richard live in Beverly Hills, which is a struggle in itself because Richard's job as a public defender provides him with a lot of self-righteousness but not much money.

It's up to Nancy to balance motherhood with climbing high enough in her law firm to pull downs the bucks needed to make ends meet in their posh existence. She hires Ana to help with Jenna.

"There's conflict in Nancy's life," Sweeney says. "She's struggling to make partner in her firm. She's fighting an uphill battle, but she started farther up the hill than Ana did.

"She doesn't realize that acts that seem to her inconsequential have a serious impact on Ana's life."

Sweeney grew up in Wilmington, Del., and studied radio, TV, film and theater at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Since moving to Albuquerque four years ago, she has been busy on stage, acting in everything from "Moon Over Buffalo" at the Adobe Theater to "Wings" at the Vortex Theater to "The Lion in Winter" at Sol Arts.

She has directed everything from screwball comedies to Shakespeare to Greek tragedy back east, but "Living Out" is her first directing job in Albuquerque.

She was drawn to Loomer's play when she saw her daughter in a production of it in Boston.

"I think any woman would be touched by this story," says Sweeney, the mother of two grown daughters. "And I like that Loomer has an excellent ear for dialogue."

The mood of "Living Out" is no easier to pin down than the theme. Is it a comedy or a social drama?

You could say both. You could say it is humor laced with human tragedy or vice versa.

"The synopsis of the play describes it as searingly funny but ultimately tragic," Sweeney says.

"But what I like is that it does not hit people over the head with its message. It gets its point across, but it does it gently."