A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Cave,” 2025, with H. Adoni Esho and Milla Liss/Photo: Evan Hanover
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Early in “The Cave,” a new play by A Red Orchid Theatre ensemble member Sadieh Rifai, a family plays a game in which the youngest daughter is wrapped in an afghan. The afghan is brightly colored and lovely but a bit ragged—there are stray bits of yarn sticking out that should either be worked into the pattern or snipped away.
The play is like that afghan. There are many strengths here—wonderful performances by both Red Orchid veterans and talented newcomers; witty, realistic dialogue; and a moving family story about the lasting effects of war and violence. But there are also scenes that need cutting or better integration into the whole.
The story revolves around a man who’s losing his mind because of war. Jamil (H. Adoni Esho) is not in a war—he’s with his family in an Ohio gated community, dealing with lively daughters and strict grass-cutting rules. The war is coming in through memories of his life in Palestine—he keeps imagining that he is being pursued and someone is calling his name. Despite the mundane and illusory safety of American life, war has found him.
Directed by Alex Mallory, the play starts with the family—Jamil, his American wife Bonnie (Kirsten Fitzgerald) and daughters Dema and Noor (Aaliyah Montana and Milla Liss) settling into their new home. There’s a lot of love in this family, lots of inside jokes and fun, as well as the passion between Jamil and Bonnie, who converted to Islam to marry him. You want this family to succeed.
A Red Orchid Theatre’s “The Cave,” 2025, with Kirsten Fitzgerald/Photo: Evan Hanover
But there’s also tension—they’ve left Las Vegas after the gang-related death of a young cousin. The girls are having trouble fitting in at school. Jamil has become more religious and traditional, in contrast to Bonnie, who despite her conversion is from a different culture. Egging Bonnie on is a snoopy neighbor (Ashley Neal) with barely concealed disdain for Muslims.
Adding to the feeling of unease in the tiny Red Orchid space is television news about Operation Desert Storm, projected onto the stage during scene changes. Flickering on the kitchen cabinets are images of George H. W. Bush, explosions and crowds of refugees. “You still think you’re the good guys,” Jamil tells Bonnie—a line even more resonant now than it was in 1990.
The play is advertised as a thriller, but reads more as a sad family drama. It is semi-autobiographical—Rifai grew up in Las Vegas and Ohio and says she has been thinking about the story for seventeen years.
“The Cave” is at its best when it focuses on the relationships between the four core family members. Fitzgerald and Esho have excellent chemistry—you believe in their marriage, which makes it tough to watch as trouble seeps in. Montana and Liss have great energy as sisters who protect each other despite their squabbles.
Neal as nosy Gail and Omer Abbas Salem as a friend from Jamil’s mosque were creepy in parallel ways, both smugly superior about their own beliefs. Also excellent are Natalie West and John Judd as hilarious, bickering grandparents and Guy Van Swearingen as Uncle Neil, an edgy Vietnam War veteran.
Unfortunately, the great scenes with the grandparents and the uncle were also the ones most in need of cutting, since they don’t do enough to advance the story of the nuclear family’s deterioration. For example, Swearingen does a beautiful job telling Dema about war for her class project, but not all of it was needed since this isn’t Neil’s story.
Overall, Rifai is a playwright to watch and this is a play worth seeing. A little trimming and shaping would make it better.
“The Cave” runs through March 16 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 North Wells. Showtimes are: Thursdays-Fridays at 7pm; Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm; and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $35-$50, available at aredorchidtheatre.org or by calling (312)943-8722.
