Leading the momentum toward “N.C.” is the first Mexican-American pope, the young and charismatic Pope Felipe. But there are many obstacles and walls for him and his supporters to overcome, both physical barriers and social barriers. The physical barriers center around the reinforced border wall built in the early 1990s that juts out into the ocean – a wall with tremendous personal meaning to Felipe who had a traumatic childhood experience when he swam around that wall to see if the water tasted better on the northern side. But the social barriers might prove even stronger, as it is clear from the beginning that some who oppose the union will try to assassinate the pope and end the dream.

Director Sam Woodhouse’s world premiere of Nuevo California is a huge project years in the making, by far the most ambitious yet in San Diego Rep’s efforts to develop new plays that celebrate our region’s unique international heritage where Mexico and the United States meet at the edge of the continent. So close, but so far away in so many ways, as the play emphasizes. Many of the lines, featuring residents of both sides of the fence, are taken directly from hundreds of interviews conducted by playwright Bernardo Solano, reflecting all manner of different viewpoints, concerns, and hopes regarding the possibility of uniting the region and what keeps us separate. And this is perhaps the strongest aspect of the play – the presentation of the varied cultural divides and bridges that separate us and bring us together.

In many other ways, the show still needs quite a bit of work and feels like it was forced out a little before its time. The script is choppy, often loses focus with several tangential scenes while missing a chance for stronger and more fluid character development that could evoke more sympathy with the characters, and is filled with far too much melodramatic dialogue that sounds more like speeches than how real people would ever talk. But the basis of its plot gives it great pertinence and uniqueness, and there is amazing potential for this play if it continues to be worked. Of course, there are many things it already has going for it…

For one thing, it’s got some good comedy in it regarding the future. Some of the things we can expect in the next 23 years? The rise of Elian Gonzalez as the leader of Cuba, Hillary Clinton’s book sequel It Takes a Village Idiot, and reporter Rebecca Rowland capturing O.J. Simpson’s deathbed confession. The show also has one solid main character in Pope Felipe. San Diego Rep regular John Campion is both moving and amusing as this “poet, philosopher, and popular recording artist” who rises from some obscure conservative priest to a populist, progressive, idealistic, and visionary leader intent on tearing down the walls that divide Tijuana from San Diego, while later in the second act he transforms into several other characters as he embarks on a mystical journey to heal some of the tortured souls that have been hurt by the divisive wall.

Other cast members do their best with the material they have. Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson has a commanding stage presence as the reporter covering the struggle over the border and drawing out the sentiments of the people involved. Jennifer Chu, wearing some colorful but mismatched assortment of youthful attire courtesy of Costume Designer Melanie Watnick, infuses the show with energy and some mysticism as an outspoken (and always speaking) proponent of change. Raquel Presa offers a more subdued but more believable and identifiable character of Juana Sanchez, a woman resistant to change and wearing a deep emotional wound caused by the wall. Gino Montesinos does a fine job as the Kumeyaay friend of Felipe who wants to see his Native American tribe, divided all these years by the wall, finally reunited. And finally, the graceful Dora Arreola dances and moves with a hypnotic and mesmerizing choreography as a mysterious bird that only Felipe can see – their fates permanently tied together.