1st Stage brings life into this play that is less impressive on the page, with a generally balanced ensemble of actors. Chief among them is Dylan Arredondo in the supporting role of Oswaldo, a mountainous, felonious man-child. Tony Cisek’s set design realizes a rent-controlled apartment that has accumulated decades of stuff; at certain points actors are climbing over stacked-up furniture: a novel way to accomplish multiple paying levels. Alas, “Pops” Washington’s second act redemption feels unearned, a little more deus ex machina than dominus vobiscum.
- Between Riverside and Crazy, by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by José Carrasquillo, 1st Stage, Tysons, Va.