REVIEW: Native Gardens, with Theatre EVOLVE.

You can call Karen Zacarias' Native Gardens a lot of things, but you'd be remiss to call it "subtle." When we're not being lectured with tired metaphors (yep, the white couple's garden unknowingly encroaching on the property of the minority couple might indeed have some larger meaning), we're subjected to lecturing of the more blatant variety, Zacarias' characters briefly morphing into PowerPoint presentations whenever convenient. There isn't a plot beat or a character development that isn't parroted back to us countless times, and any-and-all conflict that emerges throughout the play is dealt with in the tidiest of fashions by the show's end.

It's no wonder, then, that Native Gardens has emerged as one of the more popular contemporary plays being produced in regional theaters today, new productions popping up all over the country to provide audiences with a palatable old-school comic drama packed with the fresh, hip politics of 2016. As Zacarias might put it, "old neighborhood, new neighbors!"

Theater EVOLVE's production - the first return outing in Chicago for the play since its run at Victory Gardens in 2017 - unfortunately doesn't do much to convince us of why Zacarias' work warrants repeat visits. Under Moises Diaz's direction, Native Gardens' period-piece nature comes off more as museum exhibit than reflective object, though things remain charming enough across the ninety-minute runtime, with Jeff Brain's scenic design simply and effectively bringing the two rival back-patios to life (though I have to assume there was a valuable reason for not using the Del Valle's backyard tree to discuss the blatant black pole in the middle of the room). A newly discovered error in the demarcation of the property line looks to pit the Butleys (Chuck Munro and Suzy Kruekeberg, as the quaint and maniacal White couple) against the Del Valles (Rio Soliz Ragazzone and Emely Cuestas, the young, hip, and morally upstanding Latino couple), and havoc ensues right on cue.

Zacarias sets up these warring couples in dual prologues and epilogues, attempting to convey the supposed equal footing of the Butleys and the Del Valles, two pairs of neighbors who may have their own separate ways of moving through the world, but are still able to live next to one another. Yet the play is peppered with information about the Butleys that all but upsets the scales and assures us that we (presumably a liberal theatergoing audience) will never be on their side; this Republican couple who don't support the environmentally conscious practice of native gardening and who are undeniably in the wrong about the land dispute at hand - with the wife even working for defense contractor Lockheed Martin, for goodness sake - will just never be as seemingly likable as this play wants us to believe they are. And before you say "well that's the point," nothing in the action and consequences of the play leads me to believe that Zacarias has any malice towards these characters practically dripping with contempt and ignorance.

"It's like a live Dick Van Dyke Show!," one character utters at one point, and "sitcom level antics" perfectly describes both the leaden dialogue and much of the mismatched performance styles here. Chuck Monro has the freneticism that his character requires, though his manic nature can often feel in opposition with his fellow performers. Suzy Krueckeberg seems to have the opposite issue, always assured of where to live within a scene but never on equal dynamic footing with her scene partners. Emely Cuestas and Rio Soliz Ragazzone give much livelier, lived-in performances, a buoy of dual energies that keep you guessing and engaged across the play (a side tangent to note how Ragazzone has unquestionably emerged this season as Chicago Non-Equity Theatre's Secret Weapon: I always know I'm going to be in good hands with Ragazzone, whose focus and drive are always in line with whatever project he's found himself in).

To close things out; Theatre EVOLVE's 2027 season consists of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan and William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. One hopes that this theatre company may be able to find more life in these two classic works than they could in the already dated words of a play barely a decade old. Only greener pastures ahead.

Native Gardens runs an estimated 90 minutes with no intermission, and performs at The Den Theater (1331 N. Milwaukee) through July 18th 2026. Tickets are available HERE.