Fatherhood wasn’t in Daniel’s plans. A freelance event planner for bookstores, he never imagined his “friends with benefits” arrangement with Yuki, a work colleague, would have resulted in him becoming the dad of a baby born 14 weeks before term. The setting for “tiny father,” a play by Mike Lew that’s receiving its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse’s Gil Cates Theater, is a neonatal intensive care unit.
Tragedy strikes early in this small-scale drama, leaving Daniel the sole parent of this struggling infant, who’s wired up in a clear plastic incubator. Daniel (Maurice Williams) isn’t sure whether he should stick around. Yuki was dealing with her pregnancy solo, but now there’s no one else to step in.
Yuki’s parents live in Japan and are too old for traveling. And Caroline (Tiffany Villarin), the night nurse keeping vigil, is already calling him Papa. Commitment isn’t Daniel’s strong suit.
And Sophia, the name he reluctantly though tenderly decides on for the baby, has challenges that are not going to be solved overnight. She has at least a three-month stay at the hospital before her. And each day, each hour in fact, is fraught with peril.
Hooked up to a computer, she sets off alarms when her breathing slows or her heart rate changes. Her temperature needs to be routinely checked. Feeding, changing and suctioning can quickly turn into emergency procedures.
Daniel worries that Sophia looks like Voldo, a knife-wielding, heavily bandaged cha.
