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Unpacking family baggage in Udofia's ‘Her Portmanteau' at Central Square Theater

Advertisement But compression does not equal contraction when a playwright is possessed of a vision as rich as Udofia's. The past lives vividly in 'Her Portmanteau,' as Udofia examines how choices made and actions taken, or untaken, have a way of reverberating down the years. A certain slackness creeps in a couple of times, but not enough to put a dent in the overall excellence of the coproduction by Central Square Theater and the Black-led Front Porch Arts Collective. Lorraine Victoria Kanyike and Patrice Jean-Baptiste in "Her Portmanteau." Maggie Hall Photography Directed by Tasia A. Jones, 'Her Portmanteau' features a flat-out wonderful cast of three: Patrice Jean-Baptiste as sixty-something matriarch Abasiama Ufot, facing hard questions from the daughter who was raised in Nigeria by Abasiama's former husband; Jade A. Guerra as that daughter, Iniabasi Ekpeyong, 36, whose own portmanteau is stuffed with emotional baggage; and Lorraine Victoria Kanyike as the dutiful Adiaha Ufot, 30, who tries to play peacemaker in the charged exchanges between Iniabasi and Abasiama. (Adiaha calls Abasiama 'Mommy.' Iniabasi emphatically does not.) Advertisement 'Her Portmanteau' concerns itself with matters of language and culture and legacy, and, writ large, the immigrant experience. But there's nothing generic about Udofia's characters. She has taken pains to craft individualized portraits of members of the Ufot family in all their complexity and, especially in Abasiama's case, contradiction. Udofia deploys silence in 'Her Portmanteau' to a much greater degree than in the first three plays. Guerra's Iniabasi says nothing for a long period after she arrives at the apartment, virtually chilling the air. When she does speak, it is to throw barbs at her mother, criticizing the ingredients she uses in meals, and, most damningly, describing Abasiama as to her face as a woman 'who can't even speak her real language. Yawping at me in English!' Udofia, who grew up in Southbridge, Mass., and attended Wellesley College, is an actor as well as a playwright. Indeed, she played Abasiama in ' Chunks of that dialogue are rendered in the Ibibio language, sometimes with subtitles that provide English translations, sometimes not. That approach is effective in terms of keeping both sides of the family's heritage on an equal footing, but it will likely make some members of the audience wondering what they've missed. This one did. Advertisement When it comes to the overpowering ending of 'Her Portmanteau,' though, no words are needed. HER PORTMANTEAU Play by Mfoniso Udofia. Directed by Tasia A. Jones. Coproduction by Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective. At Central Square Theater, Cambridge. Through April 20. Tickets $25 to $96. , or 617-576-9278 x1 Don Aucoin can be reached at