A PLAY HELD TOGETHER BY BANDAGES:
SCALPAL, PLEASE

Colt Coeur’s world premiere of The Surgeon and Her Daughters, written by Chris Gabo, is a play of ideas—debates volleyed across generations, races, and cultures. Yet for all its verbal sparring, very little actually happens over the course of its two hours. It isn’t until the end of Act I that any substantial conflict surfaces, and the dramatic questions raised never quite land with any answers. Mariana, a retired Marine mother, is inexplicably reenlisted and sent back to war. She is the “Her” of the title. The “Surgeon” is Mohammed Ahmed, a Sudanese immigrant who, out of love for her, cares for her two daughters.

Brian D. Coats and Yadira Guevara

By the end, I found myself worn down by the sheer volume of talk—arguments, provocations, privileged naïveté, and bursts of spiteful venom. My theater companion insisted on leaving at intermission; I stayed. To the play’s credit, as aggravating as the debates were, Gabo gives each side its due—both sides fully articulated and given their fair shot—with the racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and blind spots all intact.

Johnny Sánchez and Eden Marryshow

For me, the play’s strongest writing arrives in Act II, when we finally hear the backstories of two of the play’s most compelling characters: Mohammed (Brian D. Coats), an educated Sudanese immigrant struggling to survive New York in 2016; and Isaiah (Eden Marryshow), a former dancer with a bright career cut short after a catastrophic fall from a window-washing job. Their monologues—both sharply written, both arresting—become the emotional core of the play. Mariana (Liza P. Fernandez), the Marine mom, has a moving backstory as well, but we only hear of it after she is long gone. Had we known earlier how starved she was for love and companionship, the opening scene (meeting Mohammed) would have carried much greater weight. The ensemble is rounded out by the daughters, Cecilia (Yadira Guevara-Prip) and Ashley (Kana Seiki), and Mr. O’Halleron (Johnny Sánchez), a financially successful Mexican immigrant.

Kana Seiki

Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt does admirable work concealing the play’s structural issues with inventive staging and a unified design team who keep the production visually and rhythmically alive. Tatiana Kahvegian’s set, Sarita Fellows’s costumes, Reza Behjat’s lighting, Salvador Zamora’s sound, and Thomas Jenkeleit’s props combine to create a heightened, kinetic world that often feels more electric than the endless talk of the script.

Kana Seiki, Yadira Guevara, Brian D. Coats, and Eden Marryshow

The production has been described as a 21st-century Les Misérables set in the shadows of the American Dream, but the comparison doesn’t quite land. Yes, the surgeon faces an unending struggle to stay afloat, and yes, the play gently reminds us not to judge people before we know their histories. But the piece ultimately feels less like a modern epic and more like a collection of impassioned arguments punctuated by moments of genuine, if uneven, humanity.

Liza Fernandez and Brian D. Coats

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photos by Maria Baranova

The Surgeon and Her Daughters
Theater 154, 154 Christopher St
ends on December20, 2025
for tickets, visit Colt Coeur

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Yadira Guevara and Kana Seiki

Gregory Fletcher is an author, theater professor, playwright, director, and stage manager. His publishing credits include a craft book on playwriting entitled Shorts and Briefs, as well as a collection entitled A Playwright’s Dozen: 13 short plays. Other publishing includes two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy, and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories, 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and five essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.