Boston Court Pasadena’s production of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams opened on September 11. Set at the Costa Verde hotel in a quiet Mexican village in 1940, at the cusp of Hitler’s advancement on Europe, the rarely staged play tells the story of Episcopal clergyman Reverend Shannon (Riley Shanahan), who is in constant anguish as he questions his faith, God, and his choices, all while on the hotel property of Maxine Faulk (Julanne Chidi Hill) who recently became a widow.

Reverend Shannon leads a group of tourists from the United States as they venture through Mexico. As he does this, Shannon confronts his relationship with Charlotte, a minor on the trip, and is troubled by his sexual desires. Maxine Faulk is a longtime acquaintance of Shannon who develops feelings for him. A love triangle between Shannon, Maxine, and Hannah, a world-traveler and painter who arrives at the hotel, forms, creating the central tension of the play and tension within Shannon himself.

Julanne Chidi Hill stole the show in her portrayal of Maxine Faulk. Chidi Hill came across grounded in her character and showed her range as she played the many different emotions Maxine feels in her quest to hold onto Shannon. At the start of the play, for example, Faulk tries to seduce Shannon and grows jealous when newcomer Toward the end, Faulk chooses to calm Shannon down as he begins to spiral into a manic episode. Chidi Hill was tasked with playing a character who has varying and sometimes conflicting feelings toward a character (Shannon). It was clear when the actor played seduction, jealousy, and sympathy.

I was also pleased to see that the roles of Maxine Faulk, Hannah Jelkes (Jully Lee), and Nonno (Dennis Dun) were played by actors of color when these roles were traditionally played by white actors. Jully Lee playing Hannah Jelkes brought another layer to the play; Shannon’s lust for and attraction to Jelkes brought up questions of Orientalism and the fetishization of Asian women, especially toward the end of the play when Shannon places his hands on Jelkes.

While jarring, the Nazi family parading around the stage who celebrated the bombing of London added dimension to the show, particularly as it parallels the current reamplification of white supremacy in the United States. Though off-putting, this family serves as a reminder that certain groups in our society, be it the elite 1% or white supremacists, cheerfully live their lives at the expense of the pain of those who belong to the working class and are targeted because of the color of their skin.

Sure, The Night of the Iguana may be a period piece that takes place in 1940, but it could’ve been reimagined to take place today, as are many of Shakespeare’s plays. At a moment in Los Angeles when Brown, working-class folks are being targeted for speaking Spanish and working low-wage, laborious jobs, was this really the most opportune play that could’ve been produced here at a theater in Los Angeles County?

Juan De La Cruz and Michael G. Martinez, who play Pedro and Pancho, respectively, were the liveliest of the cast despite their minimal dialogue, all of which is in Spanish. To have two Brown Latine actors in 2025 play utilitarian roles in which their function really is to just move objects on and off the stage is disappointing and hurtful because it maintains decades-old stereotypes, both in entertainment and beyond entertainment. What’s more, two Mexican characters played by Latin actors are relegated to these tertiary degrading roles when in Los Angeles and across the country, Latin and working-class persons are being scapegoated for governmental and systemic failures.

The characters of Pedro and Pancho are diminished to their labor contributions in their home country. Reverend Shannon, his group of tourists, and a family of German Nazi tourists — all “outsiders” to Mexico — have more presence and dialogue on stage than Mexican characters. The colonial and imperialist tendencies in this play are never discussed (because why would Williams do that?). Yet, the reinterpretation of the cast, specifically the casting of Chidi Hill, Jully Lee, Dennis Dun in primary roles challenges these tendencies.

However, the casting of the lead role abided by tradition. Was it absolutely necessary for a white man to be cast as Reverend Shannon? Just because the reverend is from the United States doesn’t mean he needs to be white-presenting. What would this production have looked like had De La Cruz or Martinez been cast as Reverend Shannon? Actors of color struggling to be offered lead roles is not a recent phenomenon, though having had a Latin actor with brown skin as the lead role at this moment in the United States could have been a bold statement, one that would have communicated that the Latin community is welcomed at the theater and that the theater is not shy about making daring casting choices that challenge old narratives.

Apart from the fact that Shanahan, a white actor, played a traditionally white character, Shanahan’s performance lacked variance; a lot of their performance was yelling, which is not interesting acting.

Then there’s the layer of two women of color in a love triangle with a white man, which I became bored with very quickly. The presentation of these two women being attracted to Shannon — Faulk more than Jelkes — raises questions of white racial preferences in relationships.

Additionally, a lingering question I have after watching this production is: why are works by white men about white men in anguish being produced in 2025? Some may say a production of this play serves to “honor” theater classics, but I live in 2025 and I’m very over the white literary canon, especially of works like this one that place white men at the center and involve religious missions.

Boston Court Pasadena’s interpretation of The Night of the Iguana presented a modern adaptation of the piece that challenged theater traditions in terms of casting, yet in some ways, it also maintained traditions by casting a white man as the lead, casting actors of color in labor-heavy roles, and producing white literary canon work.

The Night of the Iguana plays at Boston Court Pasadena until October 19.