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Many of Robinson\u2019s plays engage with a mythological or folktale structure while still subverting audience expectations. I asked Robinson how he first developed his love of folktale, and he explained that he was introduced to them as a child. He was enthralled with a watercolor picture book retelling the Japanese legend of Urashima Tar\u014d. In the story, the fisherman Urashima Tar\u014d saves a turtle who is revealed to be the daughter of the emperor of the sea. Tar\u014d is taken to an underwater palace but is allowed to go home with the condition that he never open a mysterious box. When Tar\u014d returns, he finds that an immense amount of time has passed. He opens the box and ages rapidly.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one thing to read the Japanese legend. But it\u2019s an entirely different experience to hear Robinson tell it, with his animated, bright voice. He\u2019s unafraid to retell an ancient tale in his own voice. When recounting the beginning of the story, he told me, \u201cAnd the turtle\u2019s like, \u2018Bet, come back tomorrow. I\u2019m going to have a little surprise for you.\u2019\u201d Robinson\u2019s version was told quickly, with boisterous energy \u2014 but when dramatic story beats arrived, he was able to slow down and convey a sense of wonder. Afterwards, even though I\u2019d gone through a narrative whirlwind, I still smiled. I was happy to have gone on such a surprising journey.<\/p>\n
Audiences can feel Robinson\u2019s giddy but methodical storytelling in his play The Figs<\/em><\/a>, running at DC\u2019s Rorschach Theatre through March 16. The play is a strange, contemporary folktale. It starts with a Storyteller sharing a fable (also embodied onstage) about a king who\u2019s obsessed with figs \u2014 until a lack of them drives him mad. Robinson\u2019s play then spirals out in multiple directions. There\u2019s a competitive family of three siblings (Jin, Jod, and June), all determined to share their figs with the King. There\u2019s the King\u2019s daughter Sadie, who runs away to her secret love, the innkeeper Lorna. There\u2019s also plenty of smaller storytelling moments, from songs and mythology to anecdotes and asides.<\/p>\n Audiences watching The Figs <\/em>will pick up on Robinson\u2019s admiration for (and interrogation of) the act of storytelling. The playwright told me his love of folktales stemmed back to that watercolor picture book and how it blended the mundane with the spectacular.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was magic, but also everyday people,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cThis was just some fisherman who then found this magical moment. I think so much of what I hope to see in theater is the magic in the ordinary. Where does that exist? How can we punch that up?\u201d<\/p>\n Robinson said that while putting together The Figs<\/em>, he intentionally wrote a large-scale story. He referenced the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, which starts out as the story of one boy but twists into unexpected directions, with the Giant and Jack\u2019s mother becoming main characters in different parts of the story. Robinson sought to honor this narrative approach.<\/p>\n \u201cA good folktale or fairytale, if we move away from the Disneyfied version of it all, often has many winding threads of a different color that coalesce in this thing of many events,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it’s really more like this tapestry of people who keep intersecting, and then it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n Robinson\u2019s tapestry of people features many characters who pop up for a few scenes, make a huge impression, and then quickly exit the play. These include a \u201cMessenger\u201d who introduces dire news like a customer care agent. A \u201cNurse\u201d arrives in a pivotal scene with deep insight into the sacrifices made for love. Most memorable is probably a little white fish, who in just two scenes develops an adversarial but also affectionate relationship with June.<\/p>\n Robinson said that every time he presents The Figs<\/em>, whether in a reading or a production, audience members will always share that their favorite character in the show is the fish. Although The Figs <\/em>is full of witty humor, it always comes from characters who are trying very hard to achieve their goals \u2014 a character trait Robinson very much appreciates.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the good thing with comedy is it doesn\u2019t need to punch down,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can also be a reminder of our own connected foolishness.\u201d<\/p>\n For Robinson, writing many minor characters like the Messenger, the Nurse, and the Fish allows him to tell his audience that so much is possible in his plays.<\/p>\n \u201cI think why it works, to have all these characters, is I try to build a world first and foremost,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce the audience has accepted the rules of that world, which are that people of all sorts can appear and engage, they\u2019re actually excited and hungry for the next discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with a hunger for discovery, there\u2019s a risk for any storyteller telling a winding tale: they\u2019ll test the patience of an audience. The Rorschach production of The Figs <\/em>lasts two-and-a-half hours plus an intermission. Robinson acknowledges the risk of losing an audience \u2014 he doesn\u2019t want the audience to go, \u201cOh God, another fucking thing?\u201d when a new character arrives late in the story. But he also shares that the original draft of The Figs <\/em>was \u201c40 pages longer.\u201d He did significant editing to balance all the storylines and characters while not compromising a folktale structure. The question he asked himself during edits was, \u201cWhat fills the world but does not oversaturate the world?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is so big, yet we can only get a little snapshot of it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a good story\u2019s job to remind audiences of how vast the world is and the many possibilities that exist. To not show a singular path, not show one right way of being, but to remind us there is no single thing and there can never be a single thing.\u201d<\/p>\n B<\/span>ecause of The Figs<\/em>\u2019 vast world, many audiences might draw parallels to real life. Although most of the play takes place in an anachronistic fantasy land, I find many resonances between characters trying to survive a tumultuous political era and my colleagues and I doing the same in 2025. This DC production about a power-hungry king is being staged at the same time that the President of the United States is sharing royalty-inspired artwork<\/a> on social media that reads \u201cLONG LIVE THE KING!\u201d There are juicy, uncomfortable comparisons to be made, even if The Figs <\/em>doesn\u2019t function as a one-to-one allegory of the present day.<\/p>\n I asked Robinson how he believes \u201cevil\u201d functions throughout folktale storytelling, and thus within The Figs<\/em>. Robinson said that although he doesn\u2019t excuse violence that characters commit, he\u2019s also not interested in completely antagonizing his characters. Mostly, he doesn\u2019t find the idea of \u201cevil\u201d to be compelling for writers or audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think that evil makes good dramatic action, whether it\u2019s in a folktale story or a contemporary lens,\u201d Robinson stated. \u201cI think people with unchecked power is an interesting bit of dramatic action. I think people who choose to be kind in the face of cruelty is interesting in dramatic action.\u201d<\/p>\n LGBTQ audiences and audiences of color might find personal resonance with The Figs<\/em> as well. As a member of both communities, I\u2019m fascinated by metatheatrical moments in Robinson\u2019s script, when characters acknowledge the societal roles they\u2019re asked to perform. Sadie tells the King early on, \u201cDon\u2019t play the caring father. The costume is ill-fitting.\u201d After a tragedy, June remembers being sidelined when playing with their siblings: \u201cI had to take the part they gave me or I couldn\u2019t play. I didn\u2019t play very much.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though Robinson isn\u2019t explicitly writing about contemporary systemic oppression, his words feel true to people experiencing them. I\u2019m reminded, weirdly, of what critic Wesley Morris wrote<\/a> about the horror film Get Out<\/em>: \u201c[Filmmaker Jordan Peele] made a nightmare about white evil that doubles as a fairy tale about black unity, black love, black rescue.\u201d Now, The Figs<\/em> is much more playful than a horror film. But I see the show as operating on a similar level as Get Out.<\/em> Both artworks confront painful injustices, but their use of genre tropes create an accessible entry point for marginalized audiences, who together can root for our collective rescue.<\/p>\n The Figs <\/em>articulates that mission toward the end of the show. June, who emerges as a central figure, enters a liminal space that the Storyteller calls \u201cthe margins.\u201d \u201cEverything that could be and even the things that couldn\u2019t be exist in the margins,\u201d the Storyteller remarks.<\/p>\n Robinson told me this scene was one of the last he wrote for the play. He was collaborating with director Helen R. Murray on the show\u2019s 2024 world premiere production<\/a> at American Stage, and they both wanted to express how expansive the world could be for the characters.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a story about June who reunited with [their] \u2018nuclear family,\u2019\u201d Robinson told me. \u201cThis is not that story. In fact, this is a story about someone who finds a family on the road, who realizes that they\u2019ve had companionship of a different kind their whole life, and a love that is going to transcend that kind of Americana look.\u201d<\/p>\n T<\/span>he Rorschach version of The Figs<\/em>, only the show\u2019s second professional production, offers a unique journey for the audience. Director Randy Baker has created an immersive experience where audience members physically travel through Rorschach\u2019s performance space, previously a two-story clothing store. Although audiences eventually settle into seats, the staging mimics the twisty narrative of the play itself.<\/p>\n With this production, Roboinson said he\u2019s finding a balance between being available to the creative team for feedback while also giving Baker and producer Jenny McConnell Frederick enough distance to reimagine the show on their own. Robinson said he\u2019s happy to participate in theater any way he can.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone said to me I couldn\u2019t be a playwright \u2014 cool, whatever, fine,\u201d he stated. \u201cBut if someone told me I couldn\u2019t make theater, I\u2019d be devastated. Being in every aspect, engaging whether it\u2019s tech or auditions, I\u2019m overwhelmed just to be there every time. So I\u2019ll be a part of any production as long as people will have me.\u201d<\/p>\n This production comes at an interesting time in Robinson\u2019s career as well. Looking back on his time at Yale, he\u2019s said he\u2019s thankful that the program allowed him to develop his own unique writing process, even if he learned the most from his fellow playwriting peers. Robinson also admits that being a Yale graduate opens certain doors for him \u2014 but he\u2019s \u201cforever grateful\u201d to the theater companies like Rorschach, which read his play submissions earlier in his career.<\/p>\n Robinson is now working on a new play, Cactus Queen<\/em>. It\u2019s a story in which a mother attempts to resurrect her dead son, who is played onstage by a puppet. Although it might seem like a darker departure from both The Figs <\/em>and some of his work for young audiences<\/a>, Robinson believes all his work is tied together through imagination.<\/p>\n \u201cI want [audiences] to say that my plays made them see the scale that theater can be,\u201d he said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean scale like budget and all the big sets. But look at that little puppet. Look at that little puppet catching a butterfly. Look at that grieving mother hold that puppet like it\u2019s her own child. I believe <\/em>that that is her child. Oh my God, I\u2019m believing in something. I\u2019m not suspending my disbelief, I\u2019m choosing to actively believe.\u201d<\/p>\n B<\/span>elief \u2014 in the arts, in institutions, in the country \u2014 is being tested right now for artists and audiences in the DC area, as the government asserts an increasingly<\/a> large<\/a> role in arts organizations locally and nationally. The Figs <\/em>didn\u2019t immediately strike me as a show about resistance or revolution. However, the longer I\u2019ve thought about it, the longer I\u2019ve appreciated how the play\u2019s characters don\u2019t seek out joy or a happy ending. They instead seek out stronger integrity.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s one value I hold most dear in this moment of my creative process, it is a deep love for earnest characters, earnest storytelling,\u201d Robinson told me. \u201cCynicism and irony have their place. I love the absurdist. I love my fucking angry, burn-it-down play, I do! I just don\u2019t have it in my spirit to write that right now. What is in my spirit is to write people who \u2014 in the midst of storms, and ungodly things, and unholy things, and cruel things \u2014 choose to believe in something, choose to really put themselves in the action that they are doing. Not with a wry smile, not with a sardonic attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n I wondered how, in the midst of so much unrest, Robinson was able to foster such an imaginative approach to theater. Over the past few weeks, I\u2019ve felt jaded and emotionally exhausted, considering leaving the arts industry altogether. I admire, and perhaps envy, Robinson\u2019s ability to feel so connected to the younger version of himself who asked his mother to read a watercolor picture book over and over again. In our conversation, Robinson emphasized that he isn\u2019t staging the wonder of childhood. Everyone else might be performing a kind of stolid maturity.<\/p>\n \u201cI think adulthood is kind of a costume more than it is a thing that actually happens,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cI pay taxes. I have responsibilities. Let\u2019s not pretend that life doesn\u2019t get more complicated. But this idea that imagination \u2014\u00a0 or silliness or playfulness or earnestness and believing in something \u2014 is a naive concept seems antithetical to what is needed for the world to move forward. Actually, it is through imagination that we can dream and think beyond our current circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI take many things in this world seriously,\u201d Robinson continued. \u201cI am a student of history and philosophy, and I am not someone who believes that everything is happy-go-lucky. But I also think that imagination is the only way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The Figs<\/strong><\/em><\/a> plays through March 16, 2025, presented by Rorschach Theatre performing at 1020 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($50 adult, $35 student and seniors) online.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Running Time: Two and a half hours with a 15-minute intermission.<\/p>\n The playbill for The Figs<\/em> can be downloaded\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n SEE ALSO:<\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9.MollieGreenberg.RobertPike.jpeg\")
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\nRorschach Theatre\u2019s \u2018The Figs\u2019 tells a bizarre fable about an obsessed king <\/a><\/strong>(review by Haley Huchler, February 19, 2025)<\/p>\n