Lucy Rodriguez and Sal Lopez (Photo by Grettel Cortes Photography)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
Latino Theater Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center
Through May 17
RECOMMENDED
Zilah Mendoza, Blanca Isabella, Lucy Rodriguez, Brenda Banda, Sal Lopez, Ruth Livier (Photo by Grettel Cortes Photography)
Growing old requires fortitude. It takes courage to face the pains, the daily humiliations, the loss of power. Still, it may demand even more bravery from the caregivers who have been charged with the care of the elderly.
The Storyteller of East LA, a production by the Latino Theater Company at downtown’s Los Angeles Theatre Center, is a timely, of the moment drama about a Latina matriarch suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s.
The play underscores the cultural expectation within many Latino families that their elders be cared for at home, not consigned to institutions— a noble aim but one that often comes at a sad cost to the caregivers.
And statistically speaking, those caregivers are almost invariably the women in the family — in this case, Grace (Zilah Mendoza), who has shouldered the burden of care for her Alzheimer’s afflicted mother, Mercy (Lucy Rodriguez). Mercy doesn’t recognize her own children anymore, and when it comes to essential daily activities, such as showering and diaper changing, she is frustratingly stubborn. The constant struggle has worn Grace to a frazzle, while Grace’s clueless and critical older sister Mary, (Brenda Banda), who visits only every six months or so, is more hindrance than help.
The narrator of the piece, Grace’s daughter Lulu (Blanca Isabella Pallini) and an aspiring writer, remembers her “Nana” Mercy as a vivacious and funny storyteller — wonderful memories she wants to keep alive for future generations. Meanwhile, Josefa (Ruth Livier), a hired caregiver who has a genuine affection for Mercy, is increasingly worried about coming to work because of ICE agents, who have recently snatched her husband off the streets. Josefa fears what will happen to her young, American-born daughter if she is also caught up in ICE’s net.
The ravages of dementia are dismayingly experienced in all sectors of society. But Storyteller is not your common, movie-of-the-week treatment of an all-too-familiar subject. Playwright Evelina Fernández elevates the domestic action into a magically realistic and spiritual drama with universal significance.
The play takes place not only in Mercy’s apartment but also in the liminal space where Mercy meets with her guardian angel Serafina (a stellar Sal Lopez, clad in the flowing gown and expanding wings of Nailan Aladdin Sanders’ inspired costume design). Before her quantum step into the afterlife, Serafina helps Mercy explore her personal issues of guilt, forgiveness, and the persistent longing for love.
John Zalewski’s typically accomplished sound ranges from the lively, with plenty of ethnic music, to the mysterious, with thrumming heartbeats subtly underscoring crucial scenes. Josh Epstein’s lighting is also evocatively mysterious, although Prairie T. Trivuth’s scenic design requires the actors to traverse through swaths of fabric while trying not to trip.
Nicolas Ruano’s remarkable supertitles are the most impressive design element. As the actors seamlessly alternate between English and Spanish dialogue, Ruano’s essential supertitles unobtrusively switch between Spanish and English in perfect synchronization, a technical feat that helps us understand every word.
The superb actors, many of whom have been with the Latino Theater Company for years, deliver on all levels, from the funny to the devastating. The ease of their long association is apparent in director José Luis Valenzuela’s staging, which establishes an authentic family dynamic of liveliness, humor, and emotional depth.
Valenzuela is the founding artistic director of the Latino Theater Company, which has been in existence over 40 years. It’s notable that Rodriguez and Lopez are also founding members, as is Fernández, whose celebrated plays have long been a mainstay of this venerable company.
I’m sad to say that I am unfamiliar with much of Fernández’s extensive body of work, but I suspect that Storyteller is a crowning glory in her long and distinguished career. In its intersections of memory, obligation, and spiritual reckoning, the play achieves a resonance that lingers beyond the final scene.
Latino Theatre Company at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 South Spring St., downtown LA. Thurs.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru May 17. latinotheaterco.org Running time: 95 minutes with no intermission.
