Play Review:The Circle
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Three Generations, One Weekend, And A Nation’s Tension
Reviewed by Joy Parris — THE CIRCLE, a tragi-comic play written by Stacey Martino Rivera, directed by D.W. Jacobs, with original music by Germaine Franco, is dedicated to the late C. Raul Espinoza, a posthumous producer of the play.
The Circle is the kind of story that lands in your chest first and in your head later. On the surface, it’s about family. It examines relationships, loyalty, old wounds, and the cultural threads that bind people together even when they’re pulling in opposite directions. It’s also about something trickier. Everyone carries a different version of the same story, and those versions don’t just shape identity. They shape communities. In this play, perception isn’t a side theme. It’s the fuse.
Set against the brutal social atmosphere surrounding the 2016 election, the action centers on three generations of the Medinas and the Mahoneys. They gather for a weekend in Texas, and what should be simple becomes a pressure cooker. The chaos doesn’t arrive out of nowhere. It’s already in the room, hiding in what’s left unsaid, in the assumptions people make, and in the way love can turn into control when fear takes the wheel. Relationships and loyalties are tested. Each character tries to come to terms with who they think they are, who they believe others are, and what it costs to be wrong.
I love a play that invites conversations about race, class, and culture. The Circle does that without turning into a lecture. It understands that “current events” aren’t just headlines. They’re stressors that seep into homes, marriages, friendships, and family gatherings. At some point, we have to admit a hard truth. Humanity’s challenges will continue to test how we treat each other. In that way, this play also feels like a history lesson. It reminds us how patterns repeat when we refuse to reckon with them.
Where The Circle expands beyond family drama is in its broader perspective on justice. This is a play about healing and forgiveness. It also makes you stare at a system that too often fosters more wrongdoing than it prevents. It pushes you to question how “justice” can become performance. It asks how blame can substitute for accountability. It also shows how people caught in the gears are usually the ones with the least power to fight back. The social impact of plays like this is clear. They don’t let audiences stay comfortably distant. They turn the theater into a civic space, where private pain and public policy collide.
That’s why stories like The Circle matter right now. In a time when people are encouraged to pick sides before they pick up understanding, a play that insists on complexity is a kind of intervention. It asks viewers to sit with contradiction. Harm and love can exist in the same family. Truth can be fractured. Reconciliation isn’t possible without honesty. That’s not just art. It’s a social practice.
The world premiere cast of THE CIRCLE includes: Michael Brainard (Los Feliz, CA) as Bud Ireton; Jeanette Godoy (Pasadena, CA) as Mary Padrón; Alma Martinez (Cypress Park, CA) as Eva Medina; Victoria Ratermanis (Angeleno Heights, CA) as Molly Medina; Lisa Richards (Los Angeles, CA) as Maeve Mahoney; Ava Rivera (Los Feliz, CA) as Anna Medina at 16; Luna Rivera (Los Feliz, CA) as Anna Medina at 12; René Rivera (Los Feliz, CA) as José Medina; Graciela Rodriguez (Downey, CA) as A Service Worker, Mari, A Neighbor, and Tonantzin; and Lakin Valdez (Glendale, CA) as Ronnie Medina, with newscasters’ voiceovers by Brendan James Willis and Simone Reynolds.
In the end, The Circle doesn’t just tell a story. It holds up a mirror. If the audience walks out talking about family, culture, the justice system, and what the last decade has done to our sense of one another, then the play has already done the kind of work that lasts beyond the curtain.
Tickets for THE CIRCLE are on sale now at Greenway Court Theatre. Shows run Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. through February 22, 2026, with an added performance on February 28 at 8:00 p.m.
Ticket prices are: $30 (sliding-scale suggested), $25 (minimum), $10 (students, seniors 60+, and groups of 10+), and $55 (pay-it-forward).
The theatre is wheelchair accessible. The show is recommended for adults of all ages. It may appeal to older kids when seen with adults, but it’s not recommended for young children because of its intense themes. Running time is 135 minutes, not including intermission.
Parking: Free parking is available on Fridays and Saturdays in front of Fairfax High School (Fairfax Ave & Melrose Ave), accessed from Fairfax Ave. On Sundays, there’s limited parking next to the theatre.
For tickets and info, visit greenwaycourttheatre.org, email boxoffice@greenwayartsalliance.org, or call 323-655-7679 ext. 4.
