American Mariachi by José Cruz González

 

Ruth Livier and Yalitza “Yaya” Vasquez-Lopez
Photos by Grettel Cortes Photography

By Joe Straw

Majestically, Tía Carmen (Yalitza “Yaya” Vasquez-Lopez) mysteriously enters wearing a huge black embroidered gown into the home of Amalia Morales (Ruth Livier) playing a song on a violin, something remembered between the two.  They were as close as sisters, her tía now gone, drowned, pulled down by the weight of her gown into the murky waters, and now, from a different dimension, she plays the violin while trying to wake Amalia out of her mental slumber. 

Much like a fog Amalia is now in, beset by a list of unimaginable mental setbacks, a clouded tapestry hides her until Tía Carmen pulls the tapestry revealing Amalia’s life, although relatively young, she is not well, but she feels her tía is there and constantly calls for her.

Latino Theater Company presents American Mariachi by José Cruz Gonzalez and directed by José Luis Valenzuela through June 9^th, 2024.   

Lucha (Elia Saldana) Amalia’s caring daughter, folding laundry, speaks to Amalia to let her know that she is beside her, speaking continuously hoping for some sign of enlightenment.

Boli (Esperanza América) Lucha’s cousin drops by with news that she has been fired and might have to go back to the cannery but not before expressing greetings to her Tía Amalia.

Federico (Sal Lopez) Lucha’s father is dressed to the tees in his mariachi wardrobe telling Lucha that he has a job and to stay home and watch after her mother.  Lucha says she has a final examen in nursing school and she must go but Federico will have none of it especially after discovering Amalia’s sweater that has been scorched by the flame from the stove.  

Boli tells Lucha that she will stay and look after Amalia while she is out. In the meantime, while Federico is in another room they put on a song, Amalia’s favorite record, and Amalia seems to come out of her fog before Federico takes the record off the player, a struggle takes place, and the one-of-a-kind record is broken. One more mental setback.

This is a defining moment in this play beautifully written by José Cruz González that truly sets American Mariachi on its lovely course. American Mariachi is not quite a musical, not quite a drama, and not quite a comedy but the play has all the elements of each.

Wonderfully directed by José Luis Valenzuela with a vary ‘70s sparce setting by Maureen Weiss, Scenic Design and most things are symbolic.

The seats on this night were filled to near capacity and judging by the standing ovation everyone enjoyed the night.  Certainly, there was plenty of singing with beautiful and exceptional voices helped by John Zalewski’s wonderful sound design that captured the sounds of this spectacular play.    A lot of work went in the presentation of the mariachis and the forming of a new girl mariachi band and all of it sounded spectacular.

There is no credit for casting director for this show in the program, but it is one of the finest casts ever at LATC.

 

Elia Saldana, Sal López, Ruth Livier,
Esperanza América and Geoffrey Rivas

 

Esperanza América is terrific as Boli although one is not a big fan of expressing to the fourth wall which creates very little truth for moments that should matter. Still, she’s funny and has a great singing voice.

Vaneza Mari Calderón is wonderful as Gabby taking the small moments and creating a visual feast of mischievous expressions on stage. A Latina singer not knowing a speck of Spanish makes up Spanish words as she sings along. She is very funny and leaves an indelible impression.  

Alicia Coca is Isabel Campos a married woman who worries about what her husband will think about her performing in a mariachi band.  So, she does it on the sly telling her husband she is singing in the church choir.  Little does he know that she’s been thrown out because of a dispute with the choir director.  Coca has a beautiful voice and plays a tasty trumpet near the end.

Fidel Gomez is all over the stage playing multiple characters and all the characters were very different.  Gomez is hardly recognizable with his back to the audience, or he is wearing some outlandish costume, or behind some equally outlandish shades, and he is very funny.  Gomez also has a wonderful singing voice and sings to perfection.  

Crissy Guerrero plays a sassy saucy hairdresser Soyla Reyna, and her voice was just wonderful. She also is terrific in multiple roles Sister Manuela, Party Guest, and Female Holy Roller Singer.

Ruth Livier is Amalia Morales in a difficult role of someone losing her ability to think and reason.  She strikes out in anger against her husband for which we find some reasoning near the end of the play. Without giving too much away, there is a lot of angst concerning the broken violin that now triggers certain emotions and cause her to lash out in a violent manner. There may be other ways to express a sense of true loss during the play. Livier also plays Doña Lola a woman who lives to be creative in her space.  Livier takes the opposite of Amalia and gives full life to the character of Doña.  Livier is a wonderful singer, a marvelous actor, and has a beautiful voice.

It's difficult to embrace the feelings Sal Lopez has as Federico, a moral discontent that stretches beyond the bounds of love and with obdurate feelings with his family life.    This Mexican machismo thing we hear about, Federico tries to control everything, his unstable wife, his grown daughter, shutting himself off from his once best friend all in the name of jealousy, or of a suspicion of adultery.   Is this the way to live a life? Curiosity seems to be a better choice rather than recriminations. There are only a couple of moments of sincere love for his wife, his daughter, his niece, and even his other mariachi friends.  And this negative patriarchal view seems to take over the play at times putting a damper on all things fun and creative in this new world. What makes Federico change his mind at the end?   

Geoffrey Rivas is outstanding as Mino Ávila especially when it comes to educating his female students about being a mariachi.  The scene is possibly the backbone of the play. Mino is a mysterious character that is motivated by his heart after first refusing to help.   Why he does a 180-degree turn is a matter of speculation but gives the actor many creative choices. Love, sincerity, and the willingness to build something all play an important part in this character.   

Elia Saldana also does well as Lucha Morales a woman who aspires great things in her life before deciding to become a mariachi.  But suddenly she is caught up in the moment that she believes will save her mother.  It moves her to accomplishing her objective to become a mariachi and finding the people that will ultimately help her and her mother.

Yalitza “Yaya” Vasquez-Lopez as Tía Carmen elevates the play with her beautiful voice and the wonderful sounds of her violin.  She is mysterious and brings a mysticism to the role.     

If you would like to see the play, based on the above, don’t read any further.

American Mariachi has the capacity to move to bigger venues. It’s played in larger houses: The Goodman Theatre, The Alley, Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and The Old Globe and one can see why.  It is delightful and certainly a crowd pleaser. But the move to an even larger house would require minor changes to elevate that move into a full-blown musical.

The broken violin has a huge role in this play, but it seems to be an afterthought in this production.  The broken violin represents Amalia’s dashed hopes.  It is the symbol of love lost and when it is brought back home every character should rejoice because it represents moving forward for all. It is the homecoming scene in everything you’ve ever seen that made you love and cry all over again and all at the same time.    

During the show, one is left with discovering the make-up of the relationships and if those relationship rang a sincere truth.  Best friends gone awry, ghost and niece of a ghost and how that might be better played out. Some relationships are less defined in the initial meeting. With the help of dialogue, one gathers that information. Still, the relationships are somewhat solidified the moment they appear in flashback and after that those emotions don’t go far enough to convince us of their feelings in present time.  

Musical Direction and Original Musical Arrangements by Cynthia Reifler Flores was just wonderful and the Mariachis/Ensemble of Luis Bernal, Manhe Martínez, Oscar Rivas, Joseph Ruvalcava, Juan Miguel Sossa Ropain filled the night with incredible musical numbers.

Other members of the crew are as follows:

Maria Catarina Copelli – Costume Design

Pablo Santiago – Lighting Design

Urbanie Lucero – Choreographer/Movement Coordinator

Alexa Wolfe – Stage Manager

Martha Espinoza – Assistant Stage Manager

May Fei – Production Manager

Manee Leija – Costume Design Assistant

Zoya Naqvi – Scenic Assistant

Jeremy Crews – Scenic Assistant

Maribel Chavez – Wig Stylist

Lauren Grace Parra – Wig Stylist

Kim Gomez – Stitcher

The Los Angeles Theatre Center
514 S. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Patron Services: 213.542.7331
tickets@thelatc.org
Administrative Office: 213.489.0994

En Mi Jardín (In My Garden) by various writers

 By Joe Straw 

Casa 0101 Theater presents the inaugural production of En Mi Jardín (In My Garden) healing with our stories – a 10-minute New Works play festival of 13 new plays through May 12^th, 2024.

En Mi Jardín was created as part of a twenty-week writing program created by Lorena M. Ortega, Lorena Ramirez, Kerri K. Ramos and Connie Valencia, PhD as part craft and part of a healing modality.  The exercise of the craft was to write a 10-minute play that allows a character to have a final conversation with someone who is no longer in their life. It is a healthy and much needed exercise for this group of Latino writers to create and showcase their craft and present on the stage at Casa 0101 and leave it to Casa to bring these lives and stories to the forefront.

En Mi Jardín is probably a metaphor for an inner life, a noise within, a story captured hidden deep beyond the visuals of mental gardens, tucked behind the leaves of the Coleus plant, and just waiting to be a part of the sensory explosion within all writers.     

Those who come to witness the performances want to see like-minded people creating and performing their craft.  It is inspirational in scope, and on this night, there was a very sizable crowd enjoying every minute.

Se Queman Los Sopes (The Patties Are Burning) by Christian Gama and directed by Emmanuel Deleage is an exceptional play about a man confessing to his grandmother after her death. Mostly in Spanish both Christian Gama and Raquel Salinas are wonderful in the roles. It is a testament of how something so purely written can bring so much joy. 

L - R Raquel Salina and Itzel Ocampo

 

El Secreto de la Abuela (Grandmother’s Secret) written by Itzel Ocampo and directed by Lorena M. Ortega is also delightful in its simplicity and the way it moves from moment to moment. The performances from Itzel Ocampo as Isel and Raquel Salina as Abuelita are exceptional. Bella Calderon, Lucy Wetzel, and Etienne Deleage contribute with voiceovers.

L - R Karla Ojeda and Vanessa Arias-Herrera

Chillona or Chingona (Screeching or Bad Ass Woman) written by Yvonne Garcia Zaher and directed by Emmanuel Deleage is another winner featuring Itzel Ocampo as Young Blanca, Vanessa Arias-Herrera as the Older Blanca, Christina Gama as Doctor, and Karla Ojeda as Frida Kahlo. This is Vanessa Arias-Herrera’s best performance of the night as she is in many of the plays.  Karla Ojeda is wonderful as Frida Kahlo coming back from the dead in full form.

My Brother’s Dad written by Martin Barrera and directed by Emmanuel Deleage.  This one has its moments featuring Martin Barrera as Martin, Juanita Zavaleta as the Therapist, and Martin Morales as Dad. Martin Morales provides many layers to the character including a man who ultimately lacks sincerity in his confrontation with his son. Getting the truth from the man who lacks that honorific provides a lot of conflict in the scene and it played very well on this night.

The measure of a successful professor is the ability to encourage despite the overflowing student tears that questions her abilities to overcome. The opposite is true in She Believed She Could by Connie Valencia, PhD directed by Lorena M. Ortega where a student Connie (Chrissi Erickson) is discouraged by a counselor (Vanessa Arias-Herrera) at a university.  Connie, although making C’s and B’s, is told those grades won’t make her a doctor but Connie, with the help of her friend Pilar (Bernadette Bolaños) believes in herself and is determined to achieve her dreams.

L - R Vanessa Arias-Herrera and Lorena Ramirez

 

 

Keeping Up With the Maid by Lorena Ramirez and directed by Lorena M. Ortega was the real-life experience of Lorena Ramirez, a maid who was belittled by the Beverly Hills homeowners Mrs. Henderson (Vanessa Arias-Herrera) and Mr. Henderson (Steve Loya Hernandez). Ramirez reaches a breaking point when her employers take her to the limit and her performance struck a very nice and sincere chord.   There is a lot to enjoy about this play especially when it showcases two rich people who are out of touch with humanity and a mother who will never give up on her child.   

Seasick, Yet Still Docked written by Kerri K. Ramos and directed by Lorena M. Ortega is the story of two sisters, one who must make amends to her dying father who really didn’t appreciate what she had become in life. This play needed to solidify the relationships - sisters and father - and move in a way that establishes a verified truth that an audience can relate to. The staging was a bit awkward with the daughter knocking on a projected door, the father coming around a curtain, and then more knocking with the father coming around the curtain again.  Michelle Lopez was Kerri, Chrissi Erickson was Bridget, and Michael Berckart as Red. 

There is something there in When Love Isn’t Enough by Bernadette Bolaños and directed by Emmanuel Deleage, but in this play we haven’t found what the there is. Bernadette (Bernadette Bolaños) gets advice from her deceased mother (Lorena Ramirez) wanting Bernadette to speak with her father (Steve Loya Hernandez).  But there’s been domestic abuse.  What that might be, we never really know.  Her mother thinks that Bernadette speaking to her father might lead to lessening the trauma of those early years, but Bernadette has a hard time reconciling even though her father has been trying for years without success. Also included in this play are Karla Ojeda (Woman with Baby), Michelle Lope as Lucy and Juanita Zavalet as Kat. 

 

L - R Vanessa Arias-Herrera and Martin Morales

 

Arturo Urista wrote Charity and Penance directed by Emmanuel Deleage. Arturoo (Martin Morales comes to pay a visit to Sister Karen Boccajero (Vanessa Arias-Herrera) at Self Help Graphics and Art. Arturoo is revisiting his old haunting grounds to pay respect to the Sister. But the Sister is not having any of his accolades and seems non plussed sitting back and smoking cigarettes listening to Arturoo get to the point. There’s more here than meets the eye.  The sister needs something from him and he, in turn, requires something in her that doesn’t quite happen. The dialogue by Urista is clever, nicely written, moving in ways that cuts directly to the chase, and gets to the matter at hand.  

Itzel Ocampo had a terrific night in all the plays she was in and The One Where Chula Grows Up written by Juanita Zavaleta and directed was no exception. She plays Chulita as a teenager next to her grown up self-Chula (Juanita Zavaleta).  The play is said to be a love letter to her teenage self and in many respects it was.  But theatre is conflict with love in conflict and certainly one can find conflict with your younger self.

Black Sheep, Rainbow Sheep by Martin Olvera and directed by Emmanuel Deleage was different and a lot of fun but I didn’t quite get this one. Michael Berckart as Martin, Karla Ojeda as Leonor, Chrissi Erickson as Sylvia, and Martín Morales as Arturo. 

Also featured on this night was Two Sisters on the Red Road by Doreen Sanchez and directed by Lorena M. Ortega with Bernadette Bolaños as Elena Dominguez Chavez, Raquel Salinas as Sister, Martin Barrera as an Interpersonal Assistant, and Acolmixtli J.T. Ortega as a voiceover.  And, Shattered Bonds by Michelle Lopez directed by Emmanuel Deleage about a father-daughter relationship with Michelle Lopez as Michi and Chrissi Erickson as Little Michi.

While not everything worked, for whatever reasons (performances, written material, directions), there were some fascinating tidbits and performances that excelled on this night and could have another life in some other venue.

A fascinating thing about a couple of the plays were about race and how a person of the same race can treat or look down upon someone of their own race. For example, the Latino Beverly Hills couple and the Latina guidance counselor.

Some physical things need improving particularly the subtitles projected on the screens. Closer, or lower is better. Also, scene changes need to have a flow to move from one play to the next. This can also be a creative act that moves the action, by action, into the flow of the next play.

That aside, this was a terrific night and Casa 0101 is a Los Angeles treasure!

Other members of this fine production team are as follows:

Angelica Ornelas – Stage Manager

La Doreen – Stage Manager

Mari Mercado – Costume Designer/Prop Master

Alejandro Parra – Lighting Designer

Miguel Delgado – Technical Director

Cesar Retana-Holguin – Set Designer

Matthew Sanchez – Sound Designer

Itzel Ocampo – Projection Designer

Al Aguilar – Production Assistant

Steve Moyer – Public Relations

Soap Studio, Inc. – Playbill Design

Casa 0101 Theatre

2102 E. First Street

Los Angeles, CA. 90033

Tickets: www.casa0101.org