A FEATHERBABY IN SPRECKELS’ CAP

A talking, squawking parrot dispenses wit, wisdom, and wonder in Featherbaby at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park.

In a bright green suit and yellow bow tie, Gina Alvarado astounds as a wise-cracking high-energy Amazon parrot belonging to forensic photographer Angie (Mercedes Murphy), newly single after her lover walked out on her.

Matthew Cadigan & Nate Musser

Angie seeks to salve her unhappiness by bringing home a fellow jigsaw puzzle fancier named Mason (Nate Musser), a law student with a strong interest in animal rights but with no fondness for parrots. From the start he’s full of animosity toward the bird, who responds in kind by “crunching” his fingers and other bodyparts with a beak like industrial wirecutters.

Matthew Cadigan, Mercedes Murphy & Nate Musser

Intermittent bites and wing-flapping attacks are merely small parts in this frenetic comedy by prolific playwright David Templeton, whose previous efforts (Wretch Like Me, Polar Bears, Mary Shelley’s Body, Drumming with Anubis, Galatea) have all earned critical acclaim. Adroitly directed by Skylar Evans, Murphy and Musser embody the story’s two humans, but it’s Alvarado who carries the show in the title role, shared in alternate performances by Matthew Cadigan.

 Mercedes Murphy & Nate Musser

Alvarado imbues the recalcitrant bird with almost human emotions, while reciting the long journey from the jungle to Angie’s New York apartment. The gender of many avian species is difficult to determine. For that reason Featherbaby takes  neutral “they/them” pronouns—not that it matters, of course, because the core story involves 1) what’s to become of the bird if Angie and Mason break up and 2) Mason’s and Featherbaby’s growing fondness for each other while he and Angie grow further apart. A great tertiary plot involves a couple of high-level jigsaw puzzle competitions that Angie and Mason hope to win.

Mercedes Murphy, Gina Alvarado & Nate Musser

All these elements are deftly woven by playwright, director, and performers in a quick-moving production on a simple set by Eddy Hansen. Alvarado gives Featherbaby an engaging sympathy, while keeping the audience in stitches as she screeches and flits about, seeming to take flight, or rolling on the floor in distress. Her long training in improv (and presumably clowning) works beautifully in conveying what’s essentially a comedic redemption story.

Nate Musser & Gina Alvarado

Featherbaby is a delightful (and in places hysterical) examination of several kinds of relationships: human-and-human, human-and-animal, animal-and-animal. Mason’s introduction of Featherbaby to a captive herd of elephants is a high point in the parrot’s long life, and one of several plot points that elevate this tale far above most talking-animal stories.

photos by Jeff Thomas

Featherbaby
Spreckels Performing Arts Center’s Bette Condiotti Experimental Theater
5409 Snyder Lane in Rohnert Park
Fri and Sat at 7:30; Sun at 2; Sat at 2 (Sept. 13)
ends on September 14, 2025
for tickets ($14-$34), call 707.588.3400 or visit Spreckels

Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.