Review: OnStage Playhouse’s ‘Alabaster’ explores trauma and healing through art

Vic Terry, left, and Ray-Anna Ranae play June and Alice in OnStage Playhouse’s “Alabaster.” (Daren Scott)

By Pam Kragen | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune

UPDATED: February 20, 2025 at 2:10 PM PST

One of the first characters the audience meets in Audrey Cefaly’s play “Alabaster” is Weezy, a no-nonsense, had-it-up-to-here goat who serves as narrator and truth-teller in the highly quirky and interesting comedy-drama at OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista.

Weezy, played by an actress dressed in human clothes, speaks in a twangy Southern accent befitting the play’s setting in Alabaster, a rural suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Talking goats are just one of the ways this play surprises the audience. Another is the atmospheric scenic design of the rundown farm where Weezy and her mom, Bib, live with their human owner, June.

June is a mentally and physically scarred painter who works out her trauma by covering the walls of her bedroom with spooky paintings of goats, landscapes and swirls of pigment that symbolize the disastrous tornado that swept through the farm and killed her entire family years before. As the play begins, it’s clear there’s a crossroads approaching for June and her goats. Bib is old and sick, Weezy wants to leave the farm for good and June is so agoraphobic and traumatized, she hasn’t left the property in years.

Jillian Jones, left, as Weezy and Amy Del as Bib in OnStage Playhouse's "Alabaster." (Daren Scott) — Jillian Jones, left, as Weezy and Amy Del as Bib in OnStage Playhouse’s “Alabaster.” (Daren Scott)

Enter Alice, a professional photographer who is traveling the country taking pictures of women who have survived trauma and have the scars to prove it. Alice is drawn to these women by her own invisible scars from the traffic death of her wife and their unborn child a year before. For June and Alice, art is their refuge and how they process their pain. This may not sound like the ideal recipe for a love story or a happy ending, but somehow hope finds a way.

Teri Brown directed the production, which runs just under two hours with intermission. Brown does a nice job creating the environment of the play and tapping into the dark humor and oddities of the script and characters. But the tone and pacing of the production feels slightly off.

The character of June struggles with severe PTSD, which in this production translates to a lot of screaming and manic behavior that starts out at 100 on the energy meter and stays there for a good chunk of the time. Considering the severity of June’s disability and her confrontational behavior, the speedy romantic relationship that develops between June and Alice seems unusually sudden.

Vic Terry gives an edgy, wild-eyed and eerie performance as June that is interestingly balanced by Ray-Anna Ranae’s calm and restrained performance as Alice. Jillian Jones gives a likable, warm and grounded performance as Weezy the goat, and Amy Dell is gentle and sweet as the elderly goat, Bib.

Duane McGregor designed the immersive farm and barnyard set, which is decorated with original paintings by Ali Beauchamp and Kristy McNamee. Jaden Guerrero designed sound, Ginger Chody designed lighting and Christopher Thornton designed costumes.

“Alabaster” is a highly original play, but it’s also highly intense. Despite the talking goats, it feels like an honest depiction of trauma and PTSD.