![\"Marti](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-stage-beautysdaughter2.jpg\")
Marti Gobel as Diane, one of six characters she plays in OnWord Theatre\u2019s production of the play \u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter\u201d by Dael Orlandersmith. (Bernadette Johnston \u2013 Narrative Images)<\/p>\nOver the course of 80 minutes, six very different characters take the stage in Dael Orlandersmith\u2019s play \u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1995 off Broadway play was a showcase for the talents of its author, who played all of the characters, each inspired by people she knew in her native Harlem, N.Y. The play mixes monologues with spoken-word poetry.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, \u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter\u201d made its West Coast premiere with OnWord Theatre in a production starring OnWord\u2019s producing artistic director Marti Gobel, who first starred in the play a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Gobel has long been one of region\u2019s best actors, and \u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter\u201d allows her to showcase her range and originality in a tour-de-force performance. No two characters in this play are remotely alike and Gobel authentically imbues each one with a unique voice, accent, physicality and soul.<\/p>\n
Marti Gobel as Diane, one of six characters she plays in OnWord Theatre\u2019s production of the play \u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter\u201d by Dael Orlandersmith. (Bernadette Johnston \u2013 Narrative Images)<\/p>\n
The central character is Diane, a 31-year-old Harlem poet and music-lover. She has become so accustomed to rejection and abandonment by her cruel mother Beauty, her absent father and her aloof Irish lover Cal, she now shuns commitment, taking \u201cthe slide\u201d out the door whenever someone tries to draw close. As embodied by Gobel, Diane is outspoken and somewhat steely, but also generous, maternal and comfortable in her own skin.<\/p>\n
Two of the plays best-written and -performed characters are men: Papo, a Puerto Rican teen who sells pot to support his out-of-work parents, but shows promise as a writer; and Anthony, a flirtatious but married Italian fish market worker from Red Hook who flirts with Diane at a wedding reception.<\/p>\n
Gobel\u2019s frenetic Papo poses and spins tales to cover up his fear and lack of confidence, and Anthony, with a thick Brooklyn accent and cringey come-ons, sees in Diane the music of love that\u2019s been missing from his life.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also Mary, a kind old woman who bequeaths her jazz and blues record collection to Diane; Louie, a blind shoe-shine man and addict who has been a surrogate dad to Diane; and finally Beauty, a burlesque dancer-turned-viciously mean alcoholic who blames and resents Diane for everything that has gone wrong in her life.<\/p>\n
OnWord co-founder Danielle Bunch directed the moving, well-paced production, which features an enjoyable original jazz music score by OnWord resident composer Kemet Gobel. Staged in the intimate black box space at Diversionary Theatre, audiences can see up close how naturally Gobel transitions between her characters, both inside and out.<\/p>\n
Gobel performs the play on a book-strewn square floor space with the audience seated around her on three sides.<\/p>\n
On the back wall, costume elements for each character hang on hooks. While Gobel changes in and out of scarves, glasses, a bathrobe, hats and slippers to becomethe\u00a0 different characters, the audience hears pre-recorded lines of Diane\u2019s poetry that offer more insight to her inner life \u2014 a\u00a0 tribute to her dead father, the confusion of getting her first period at 13 and her lifelong search for purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeauty\u2019s Daughter\u201d is a sad and gritty play for adults without a happy ending. But it\u2019s also a showcase of terrific acting and theater-making. It closes OnWord\u2019s first full season. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what this small but ambitious theater company produces in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2018Beauty\u2019s Daughter\u2019<\/p>\n
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 4 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Nov. 30<\/p>\n
Where:\u00a0OnWord Theatre at Diversionary Theatre\u2019s BlackBox, 4545 Park Blvd., #101, San Diego<\/p>\n
Tickets:\u00a0$33.29-$43.89<\/p>\n
Phone:\u00a0619-892-8123<\/p>\n