'Meet the Cartozians' Off-Broadway review — the political is personal in this multigenerational drama
Read our review of Meet the Cartozians off Broadway, a new play written by Talene Monahon, directed by David Cromer, and presented by Second Stage Theater.
Summary
- Meet the Cartozians tells two stories: of an Armenian American family fighting for citizenship in 1924; and of Armenian Americans on a reality show in 2024
- The show brilliantly ties the themes and journeys of the characters in each act together
- The show is recommended for fans of other sweeping dramas like Prayer for the French Republic
The second act of Meet the Cartozians presents a challenge to writing about the first. The top of the show is a period piece that beckons us into a quiet living room in 1923, where the Cartozian family is trying not to let their anxiety show. The patriarch, Tatos (Nael Nacer), has just had his naturalized citizenship revoked for not being white, but as the family patiently explains to their lawyer, Wallace McCamant (a deceptively powerful Will Brill), there is no more Armenia for them to return to if they're not allowed to stay in Oregon.
Talene Monahon’s play is based on a real lawsuit that ultimately ruled that Armenians were white, not Asian. But even as Meet the Cartozians tangles itself in legal and anthropological classifications, it remains on a human level dramatically. McCamant explaining the intricacies of American racial laws to immigrants who have never had to consider them shows just how strange and ugly these laws are without relying on modern identity politics. No one in the first act feels like a caricature.
Fast forward a hundred years, however, and the play becomes purposefully sticky as Armenian American activists and philanthropists debate the concept of whiteness in the very terms the first act avoided. Gone is dutiful daughter Hazel Cartozian (Tamara Sevunts), her fate unknown; here are Rose Sarkisian (Andrea Martin), a wealthy fundraiser, and Leslie Malconian (Susan Pourfar), a pedantic poet and organizer who wants “Armenian” to be its own classification on the U.S. Census.
The group is gathered to shoot an Armenian Christmas episode of a reality show headed by a star who may or may not show up to set. When reality TV wrangler Alan (Brill) posits that “a lot of people who used to not be considered white in America are now totally white, like Italians, Jews, Greeks, Irish,” the point does not sit well with the Armenians (though perhaps this is because Alan insists he is not just Irish, but “Black Irish”).
Most of the gathered hold steadfastly to their beliefs that Armenians are or are not white (Leslie no, Rose yes), with only Robert (Nacer) seemingly willing to change his stance. He listens to the others as much as he listens to a distant buzzing sound that plays whenever he thinks of his ancestral homeland. Perhaps he is the Robert that Vahan Cartozian (Raffi Barsoumian) dreamed of as a young man struggling to assimilate: “Someday, these are the names I will give my sons: Steve and Robert.” Monahon’s reference to the late Robert Kardashian is likely intentional; when the reality star (also Sevunts) finally appears in a wish-fulfillment fever dream for Robert, she mostly speaks of missing her Armenian father.
The beginning of the second act sags, the momentum of the family drama cut off at the head. We learn Tatos Cartozian won his trial (as in real life) but not how he felt or how his family reacted. But what if this is not an oversight, but another intentional manipulation of the drama from the playwright? “This man lived one hundred years ago. Why are we pretending we know anything about him or his family?” Robert asks when the group passes around a newspaper photo of Cartozian.
Though it’s frustrating to lose Sevunts's talents for most of Act 2, Meet the Cartozians does a brilliant job of subtly recalling the questions and journeys the previous characters posed a century earlier. The new characters lay bare their baggage in front of Alan’s camera while the play itself unfolds slyly, petal by petal.
Too often, modern political theatre forces characters to parrot a mantra the audience already believes, a reassurance that you and the playwright voted for the same people and did the right thing by coming to the theatre. Meet the Cartozians should not leave anyone feeling this misplaced sense of gratification.
Meet the Cartozians summary
The first act of Meet the Cartozians follows an Armenian American family in Portland, Oregon from 1923-24. Tatos Cartozian (Nael Nacer) recently received his citizenship and then had it revoked because he is not white, bringing him to trial to prove his whiteness. The story is based on the lawsuit United States v. Cartozian, and the characters are based on real people: Cartozian was a rug dealer whose citizenship was questioned, and his lawyer was eventually appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court.
The second act fast-forwards 100 years to Glendale, California, where a group of prominent Armenian American community members have come together to film a segment about Armenian Christmas for a Kim Kardashian-esque reality television star who happens to be a Cartozian descendant.
What to expect at Meet the Cartozians
Meet the Cartozians runs approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. The play presents two distinct but interconnected stories, with the cast portraying different characters in the second act.
The play contains graphic discussions of violence, including murder and genocide. Meet the Cartozians also discusses racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and mental health issues.
What audiences are saying about Meet the Cartozians
As of writing, v has an audience approval rating of 77% on the review aggregator Show-Score, averaged from 29 responses from theatregoers.
- Show-Score user John Ned says, “Andrea Martin and Will Brill give great performances as part of a great cast.”
- Show-Score user GreatAvi dislikes the plot switch from Part One to Part Two, calling the play’s second part “aimless with no discernible dramatic purpose.”
- Show-Score user Nancy 3147, however, likes that the “more comic second half continually both echoes and upends the first.”
Read more audience reviews of Meet the Cartozians on Show-Score.
Who should see Meet the Cartozians
- If you enjoyed the Manhattan Theatre Club and Broadway productions of Prayer for the French Republic, you’ll feel at home at this intergenerational family drama directed by David Cromer and starring Nael Nacer.
- Fans of Andrea Martin will revel in seeing the actress back onstage and using her comedic chops as Rose in the play’s second act.
- If you’re still listening to the recording of Stereophonic, you won’t want to miss that show's Tony Award winner Will Brill back on the Off-Broadway stage.
Learn more about Meet the Cartozians off Broadway
Meet the Cartozians is a play that requires patience, and this is not an easy ask in theatre. After an engaging first act, the second starts too slow for comfort. But as it unfolds, Meet the Cartozians returns to meet itself in a manner ultimately more satisfying and thought-provoking than your typical family drama.
Photo credit: Meet the Cartozians off Broadway. (Photos by Julieta Cervantes)
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