Out in Jersey: “A Thousand Maids” uses comedy to explore prejudices against working women

Playwright Tony Meneses (The Hombres) brings the world premiere of his new comedy, A Thousand Maids, to the Two River Theater in Red Bank. In it, he shines a light on the army of women who make their living cleaning the homes of others and the levels of prejudice and disrespect the mere thought of their jobs trigger. Meneses tries to get us to look at these women as more than just their job.

We first meet the spirits of Butterfly McQueen (Deonna Bouye) and Lupe Ontiveros (Maria Elena Ramirez), two actresses who were typecast as maids in dozens of movies during Hollywood’s “Golden Age”. Although they were capable of much more as actresses, typecasting wasn’t the worst of their problems. Because of their respective races, they played parts that were mostly stereotypes of ignorant Black and Latina women. In their movie-role maid’s uniforms, they haunt — and clean — an apartment loaned out to costume designer Cordelia (Natalie Wolams-Torres) as she tries to create maids’ uniforms for a new play.

Cordelia is passionate about using her costumes to convey a sense of the maid characters’ inner lives. Her concerns receive dismissal from the obtuse playwright (Ramirez) who sees the characters as mere personifications of their jobs, and the new-agey, conflict-averse director (Bouye).

Cordelia has her own preconceptions to fight. She cannot understand why any woman would willingly abandon her own dreams to clean up after other people. Cordelia tries to connect with Vivian (Kate Siahaan-Rigg), the twice-weekly Indonesian cleaning lady of her apartment. Vivian, however, will have none of it — she knows exactly what her job and her relationship to her employer entail.

Playwright Meneses allows the action to flow not only in the linear timeline of Cordeila’s creative efforts and setbacks but also back and forth in time. He also mixes in scenes from well-known movies and plays, putting the four actors into some wryly funny juxtapositions played at the breathtaking speed of flipping through TV channels.

The four actors each play multiple characters throughout the show, yet under the  sensitive direction of Aneesha Kudtarkar they meld as an ensemble. Alexander Dodge’s modern, slightly sterile New York apartment, lit by Cat Tate Starmer, provides the perfect backdrop to the story. Kara Harmon’s costumes and Gabbie Vincent’s hair and makeup designs help the actors bring their multiple characters to life.