By Amanda Knox

For those who are or have worked in the service industries, it can sometimes feel like you can tell who also serves or has served in the industry or not. There’s something about the tips, the eye contact, and they way they receive your service—with either compassionate patience or ruthless accountability.

Elizabeth Irwin’s My Mañana Comes introduces the all-too-real-life scenario of such servers. Behind the scenes of a fancy New York City restaurant, four busboys, Whalid (Joshua Chessin-Yudin), Peter (Tyler Trerise), Jorge (Santino Garcia), and Pepe (Chris Rodriguez) are comrades-in-arms on a common quest to make a decent living. And while they do, they can sympathize with and even envy each other’s drudgery and dreams. Whalid wants to move out of his parents’ house, Peter wants to provide for his family, Jorge is saving up for a house, and Pepe would like a better life.

A rift forms when management decides to cut the busboys’ already barely reliable wages. Whalid and Peter, the New York natives, and their need to stand up for a living wage in the long term, comes up against Jorge and Pepe, the illegal immigrants, and their need to keep their head down and get by as best they can for now. Who suffers? Who sacrifices? Can their needs be reconciled? Meanwhile, the true villain who created the desperate and unlivable situation remains faceless, out-of-reach, and unconcerned.

The ArtsWest world creation through stage design remains reliably on point. The lemon wedges are juicy, the knives are sharp, the sinks pour, the exit of the back of the restaurant lets in street sounds, and even the official health code documentation posted to the wall is perfect.

ArtsWest’s intimate stage is perfect for this play, where the audience is brought so close to the character’s nerves. Tyler Trerise’s performance was especially compelling. Through him the audience was able to glimpse Peter’s light-heartedness, pride, confidence, and desperation. His energy dominates the climactic scene of the play, and feels utterly authentic. Director Mat Wright did well to encourage and trust his actors to fill the space with all their energy.

For those concerned with immigration, the living wage, and the human condition, ArtsWest’s My Mañana Comes is the real thing.

My Mañana Comes is being performed at ArtsWest Theatre (4711 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116) Wednesdays - Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 3pm from October 29 - November 22. Tickets are $30 - 37.50 standard, $30 - $33 seniors (65+), and $17 students, and may be purchased online, over the phone (206-938-0339), or at the box office.