Noo-Yawk Thee-der (New York Theatre)
Let's see...I saw:
The Crazy Mexican Show @ the NuYorican Poets Café... ... ... June 10th
Dominizuelan @ the NuYorican again... ... ... June 12th
El insolito caso de Mis' Piña Colada @ El Repertorio Español... ... ... el 14 de junio
In the Heights @ the Richard Rogers Theatre... ... ... June 15th
[Fela! June 16th (But it's not Latino theatre)]
The Elaborate Entrance of CHAD DEITY @ 2nd Stage Theatre... ... ... June 18th
Best things about each one...
The Crazy Mexican Show... the laughs
Dominizuelan (the show was called People in the City) ... the characters were so real. The duo really transformed and did justice to real people from a quintessential Latino city community.
El insolito caso de Mis' Piña Colada ... the homage to soap operas in one of the last scenes
In the Heights ... the songs "Inutil", "Everything I know", and "Breathe"--actually most of Nina's songs. I identified with the women's dreams to leave home and become more than their small pond allows.
[Fela! (the dancing)]
CHAD DEITY... umm...AMAZING! The pace, the story, the message, the spectacle. It was well-written, well-executed, just well-done in most aspects.
I got something out of each show. El insolito caso... had the biggest gestures though the comedy was pretty set in reality. I didn't need translation, but I know El Repertorio offers simultaneous translation for those who request it. CHAD DEITY seemed to be the most up-to-date, projecting live recordings on stage... Characters came in and out of the audience.
A similarity I could note on many of the shows I've seen: many Latino shows recognize their audiences, in different ways (i.e. coming out of the audience, addressing the audience, etc...)
In El insolito caso... the characters expressed many punch lines out to the fourth wall, not making eye-contact with the audience, but looking out beyond the stage. In the Heights has a narrator guiding the audience. The Crazy Mexican Show was broken up with small vignettes and monologues that the characters would use to share their real feelings with the audience.
During some vignettes some audience members were encouraged to call out or dance. Dominizuelan would walk out and act within the audience and there was minimal interaction. Though most theatre tells a story, Latino theatre storytelling reaches out to the audience, breaks character to transform into a new character, stereotype, tableau. It usually captures the audience with the story, not the reality of the story. The reality is in the message--the freedom to share the message of struggle.
New York seems very comfortable with its Latinos and Latino theatre. It's off-Broadway and on Broadway, in full Spanish teatros, not just tucked away in comfortable festivals. Actually, subtitles weren't used in New York, even on Broadway, though some texts self-translated. But Latino theatre is not set aside, it's becoming mainstream there. I HEART Nueva York Theatre (but who doesn't?)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
La misión...
Theatre. Latino theatre. Across the U.S.: really in three major cities...New York....Chicago...and San Francisco.
New York was June (will write more soon)
Chicago is now in July (has inspired me to write)
San Francisco is August (we'll see what's ahead)
What is Latino theatre??? That's what I've set to find out. Or at least get a good taste. But, basically, it's a play that has Latino themes or characters, Spanish is optional and subtitles (nowadays) are usually included. It is not limited to Latinos. The themes typically focus on family and the home, but not necessarily. They can be about history and identity. I guess technically, one could say they could be about anything, but generally they focus on the search for belonging, a sense of losing or struggling with the tools to belong, and magic. Magic in the fantastical sense and magic in the daily elements of life. The plays usually incorporate color and music (or singing and dancing) but not in a West-Side-Story kind of way. In a quotidian way. The epic and the everyday unite to make life difficult but nostalgically enjoyable for the characters.
Latino theatre is close to the heart though it tends to be less psychologically real and more presentational. It is theatrical in its very obvious storytelling--which makes it intimate. The actors know they are telling a story and make it big enough to swallow the audience. They make it hungry with energy that thirsts for attention. They make it big, like a soap opera, or a campfire tale, or commedia dell'arte. They make it worth watching.
I guess after this adventure, I'll be able to see what "bad" Latino theatre is (along with the good) but the objective is just to experience it. I may sound complimentary of everything I write about but that's because I go to watch it to get something out of it besides entertainment, and, so, I usually do. This blog will not serve as a review of the plays but as a testimony of what impacted me....what was visually savory. What worked. And, possibly, what similarities I see in this "genre" (if that's what it should be called).
I won't pretend to be an expert, just an audience member of many, many shows by the end of this summer. And a writer of Spanglish plays. I'm a student and a novice, looking for my place in this theatre world. Hopefully, I'll become a good guide.
New York was June (will write more soon)
Chicago is now in July (has inspired me to write)
San Francisco is August (we'll see what's ahead)
What is Latino theatre??? That's what I've set to find out. Or at least get a good taste. But, basically, it's a play that has Latino themes or characters, Spanish is optional and subtitles (nowadays) are usually included. It is not limited to Latinos. The themes typically focus on family and the home, but not necessarily. They can be about history and identity. I guess technically, one could say they could be about anything, but generally they focus on the search for belonging, a sense of losing or struggling with the tools to belong, and magic. Magic in the fantastical sense and magic in the daily elements of life. The plays usually incorporate color and music (or singing and dancing) but not in a West-Side-Story kind of way. In a quotidian way. The epic and the everyday unite to make life difficult but nostalgically enjoyable for the characters.
Latino theatre is close to the heart though it tends to be less psychologically real and more presentational. It is theatrical in its very obvious storytelling--which makes it intimate. The actors know they are telling a story and make it big enough to swallow the audience. They make it hungry with energy that thirsts for attention. They make it big, like a soap opera, or a campfire tale, or commedia dell'arte. They make it worth watching.
I guess after this adventure, I'll be able to see what "bad" Latino theatre is (along with the good) but the objective is just to experience it. I may sound complimentary of everything I write about but that's because I go to watch it to get something out of it besides entertainment, and, so, I usually do. This blog will not serve as a review of the plays but as a testimony of what impacted me....what was visually savory. What worked. And, possibly, what similarities I see in this "genre" (if that's what it should be called).
I won't pretend to be an expert, just an audience member of many, many shows by the end of this summer. And a writer of Spanglish plays. I'm a student and a novice, looking for my place in this theatre world. Hopefully, I'll become a good guide.
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