El (Gabriela Veciana, left) and Sofi (Elisa Tarquinio) discuss chore duty in Libby Carr’s Calf Scramble.
Calf Scramble, the title of Libby Carr’s dynamic new work, is a double entendre. On one hand, it is an event, familiar to many a rodeo goer, that features teens chasing and roping calves to take home and raise as potentially profitable livestock. On the other hand, it is a fitting description of the play’s intent. Five high school girls find themselves as penned in by their circumstances as the calves are by their metal fences. The animalism of humans becomes jumbled with the humanity of animals, and if, at times, Carr lays on the symbolism with a heavy hoof, one must remember that the play is set in Texas, where everything is bigger, including the metaphors.
Maren (Maaike Laanstra-Corn) grows contemplative as Vivvy (Ramirez) worries over her.
Blurred lines abound in this well-paced and physically demanding 90-minute tale, a production of Primary Stages. Friendship develops into romance, and religion becomes fascinatingly tangled up in the demands and disciplines that come with being loyal to a century-old youth organization. The five teens are all newly minted cow owners thanks to being members of the FFA (formerly the Future Farmers of America). Having wrestled to the ground their “scholarship calves” at a big Houston rodeo, they return to their hometown of Huntsville for seven months of cattle grooming, bonding, and spatting over shared responsibilities. Huntsville, as one of the girls points out, is host to seven prisons, a “core of evil,” with which the girls either try to make peace or from which they plan to escape.
Sofi (Elisa Tarquinio) is the most complicated of the quintet. More of a debate club kind of girl, she is primarily interested in winning big at the year-end auction rather than actually putting in the work to raise her calf properly. Unlike the others, she is not particularly religious but is especially desperate for cash to get out of town. Her father, who works on death row at one of the prisons, is a terror, and the parallels of him strapping men down while she is out roping cattle weigh heavily upon her, ultimately bringing her to a brutal catharsis.
Sofi joined FFA at the urging of her best friend El (Gabriela Veciana), who in many ways is Sofi’s opposite. Despite her father being a prisoner, El is happy enough with the pleasures of her small life. Yet she finds herself having to make up for Sofi’s shortcomings, doing the chores Sofi refuses to handle. Making matters worse, the luck of the scramble finds El’s calf to be a runt while Sofi’s grows enviably large.
Vivvy (Marvelyn Ramirez, left) finds it hard to recognize El (Veciana).
Vivvy (Marvelyn Ramirez) was raised on a ranch and is the most experienced handler of the group, making her a natural foil for Sofi. The two exchange catty vitriol from the get-go.
Sofi: Your family has that big ranch, right?
Vivvy: Yeah I’ve been showing cattle since I could walk.
Sofi: Wow, that’s …
Vivvy: It’s not cool.
Sofi: I was gunna say not fair.
The even-tempered Anna Lee (Ferin Bergen) is a pastor’s daughter who doesn’t mind a shot of whiskey. Her crush on Vivvy develops into a sweet coming-of-age romance for the duo, amid the critical commentary of their friends. Meanwhile, Maren (Maaike Laanstra-Corn), who seems to be on another plane of existence compared to her level-headed peers, puts her confused faith to the test. A devoted member of the Church of Christ, she awaits the Second Coming, chastising the others when they curse, yet believing she can easily pray away the sins she commits with her boyfriend.
Anna Lee (Ferin Bergen, left) and Vivvy (Marvelyn Ramirez) move beyond just friendship. Photographs by James Leynse.
Carr’s clever script builds slowly as we learn more about each girl, then all at once as the teens deal with a crisis that binds together their religious convictions and FFA duties. Which is not to say that the two institutions had not already found common footing throughout the play, with hints of baptism among buckets of water and especially with the FFA Creed, which the girls recite by heart. The organization’s doctrine, written in 1928, smacks of biblical devoutness, reading, in part: “I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.”
Director Caitlin Sullivan, who knows something about showcasing girl power, having helmed Bedlam’s 2023 production of The Good John Proctor, takes all the right risks here, forging her cast of young talent (three making their Off-Broadway debuts) into a cohesive ensemble. They not only join forces to handle the fun machinations of Cate McCrae’s scenic design, but also take in one another’s criticisms as effectively as they dish them out.
The Primary Stages production of Calf Scramble runs through April 12 at 59E59 Theaters (59 E. 59th St). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; matinees are at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and information, visit 59e59.org.
Playwright: Libby Carr
Direction: Caitlin Sullivan
Sets: Cate McCrae
Costumes: Haydee Zelideth
Lighting: Barbara Samuels
Sound & Original Music: Daniela Hart, Noel Nichols, Bailey Trierweiler & UptownWorks
