Mary Zimmerman’s Fairy Tales Challenge with Terrific Tapestry

by Philippa Kelly

Grab a slice of pizza and a glass of beer or red wine, then head downstairs for a delicious evening at La Val’s, where Theater Lunatico is performing Mary Zimmerman’s “The Secret in the Wings.”

First staged in 1991, “Secret” sits between Zimmerman’s adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” (1990) and her Tony Award-winning “Metamorphoses” (1996). “Secret” reminds us of an orchestral score, with shadows hovering over the playful surface.

“Secret” showcases Zimmerman’s trademark transformation of fairytale, framed by a child’s terror. The child is afraid of  a new babysitter who  reads to her from a book of dark fairy tales. Each tale breaks off at its bleakest moment, giving way to the next, until a central story is told in full.

The play resumes each interrupted tale in reverse order, with looming disasters averted. Through this intricate structure, Zimmerman uses the raw, unsettling power of fairytale to explore childhood fears. Sexual danger lurks menacingly beneath the “happily ever after.”

La Val’s is a true black box space. The unadorned walls breathe each fairy tale into life, as nine Lunatico actors take on multiple roles under their own real-life names, suggesting that all of us are surrounded by magical marvels. If only we could take the time with this beautiful play to uncover them.

As “Secret” opens, Umut Yalcinkaya enchantingly plays the little girl whose parents are leaving her in the dreaded care of “Miss Perry” (Erin K. Perry). This opening is the prelude to a magical journey, alternating expectation, dream and horror, with actors switching roles as the fairy tales unfold.

Tiny stages can house huge imaginations:  Liam Blaney, Eileen Fisher, Jennifer Greene, Sarah Eli Hampton, Christian Jimenez, Shawn Oda, and co-artistic director Lauri Smith join with Yalcinkaya and Perry to sketch the dark and the light with virtuoso joy.

The actors sweep and bounce on and off-stage. Blaney draws the whole subterranean fairyland up to the light with his gorgeous singing voice—accompanying himself on the harmonium!

Partway through the show, we are transported seventeen years into the future, when the children (like little Johnny Piper from Puff the Magic Dragon) are no longer “children.” Do we grow up to abandon our fairytales in the big wide world? Or do we weave these same tales into adult stories of love, passion, revulsion, and dread?

Come to Lunatico at La Val’s and judge for yourself. It’s a gorgeous eighty-five-minute ride.

 

“The Secret in the Wings” by Mary Zimmerman, directed by Michael Barr, set design by Aella Ney, costumes by Elana Swartz, lighting by Francesca Barlow, music by Liam Blaney, and sound by Daynna Rosales, by Theatre Lunatico, at LaVal’s, Berkeley.

Info: theatrelunatico.art – to November 1, 2026.

Cast: Liam Blaney, Eileen Fisher, Jennifer Greene, Sarah Eli Hampton, Christian Jimenez, Shawn Oda, Erin Perry, Lauri Smith, and Umut Yalcinkaya.