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Photo Credit: Daren Scott
A World Premiere Examines Where We Are
We live in a world of social media, podcasts, algorithms, outrage, breaking news that breaks again 12 minutes later, and attention spans that barely survive a TikTok. That’s the environment audiences are invited to join this month at Onstage Playhouse (OSP)’s staging of Mensa, a world-premiere play by Salomon Maya and directed by OSP Executive Artistic Director James P. Darvas.
Mensa is a darkly funny play about intelligence, identity, family, politics and our absolute addiction to being right.
The play is set in the home of David Wright, a famous right-wing podcaster (Alex Chernow) who lives with his wife–and executive producer–Valentina (Cristina Gallo). Their teenage daughter Esther (Isabella Turner) is a genuine genius preparing for her Mensa exam. When David and Valentina invite Sophia (Larissa Ryan), a rival left-wing podcaster into their home for a live, no-holds-barred debate, conversation becomes combat.
Everyone is smart. Everyone has an argument. Everyone knows they’re right. And Esther begins to wonder whether any of them are actually wise.
“I began writing this story a year ago, during a very different but equally loud news cycle, and the script has gone through so many changes at each turn of world events,” Maya says.
Mensa is the third installment of Maya’s trilogy of works to premiere at Onstage (Mugre in 2023, and Masa in 2024 are the other parts of what Darvas calls ‘the M Series,’ and each piece includes a few subtle nods in the script to the others.)
Darvas attacks this play at a relentless pace. His style fits perfectly with Maya’s quick dialogue, making Mensa feel less like something you’re watching and more like something you’ve somehow walked into. You’re not observing the argument from a safe distance. You’re in the room, in the middle of the debate as it happens.
The production’s multimedia elements only deepen that feeling of being trapped inside the noise. Video, social media feeds, breaking-news reports and other digital projections surround the action, often arriving with the same speed and urgency as the dialogue itself. Rather than simply serving as background, the screens become another character in the room, showing how quickly a private conversation can become public discourse–and how easily a few words can be amplified, distorted and consumed by strangers across the globe.
At times, it feels as though the audience is watching a play, a podcast, a livestream and a breaking news event all at once, an intentionally overwhelming reflection of the way we consume information today.
“The heart of the play for me became the question: What good is intelligence if we’ve forgotten how to talk to each other?” Maya says. “Ultimately, that is what I hope audiences take away from their time at the theatre—a desire to talk to one another more, even if we may sometimes disagree.”
Mensa runs at Onstage Playhouse, 291 Third Ave., in Chula Vista through September 13. See the show Thursday–Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. Purchase tickets at onstageplayhouse.org.
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