Lauren Curet and Karla Ojeda (Photo by Rudy Torres)
Reviewed by Martín Hernández
CASA 0101
Through October 6
Since 2021, the five members of the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have all been women — a first in its 150-year history — with two of them women of color. Kicking off that configuration was the late Gloria Molina, who in 1991 was elected as the first Latina county supervisor. The story of that Molina victory and others, along with her defeats, are outlined in playwright Josefina Lopez’s loving — perhaps too loving — homage to the Chicana political icon. Due to her episodic story-telling style, Lopez skims the surface of Molina’s personal and political relationships, nonetheless accurately portraying her as a strident fighter for her long neglected people.
After the spirit of Gloria Molina (Karla Ojeda) appears at her 2023 funeral, La Virgen de Guadalupe (Celeste Lanuza) joins her as her guide to the afterlife. When Gloria implores her for more time to finish something important, La Virgen relents. We then shift to Boyle Heights where Jessica (Lauren Curet), a harried young Chicana for whom Gloria is a touchstone, is running for L.A. City Council but facing a dilemma that could sink her election chances. Gloria takes Jessica under her spectral wing to help answer the younger woman’s question: “What would Gloria Molina do?”
The answer is: she did not back down when things got tough. As the oldest of ten kids, young Gloria (Natalie Heredia) served as English interpreter for her Mexican immigrant parents and as her siblings’ second mother. At 22, Gloria (Amy Melendrez) became politicized while attending the August 29, 1970 Chicano Moratorium and witnessing police forces attack peaceful demonstrators at that seminal protest against the Vietnam War, noting its disproportionate effects on Mexican Americans. Machismo in the Chicano movement led her to help form Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional, an organization of Chicana feminists. Emboldened by her mother Concepción (Laura Vega), Gloria ran for State Assembly in 1982 after her Eastside political mentor Richard Alatorre (Edward Navarrete) told her “It’s not your turn.” She beat Alatorre’s preferred contender and became the first Latina in the assembly. She then defeated Alatorre-backed candidates for L.A. City Council in 1986 and for the Board of Supervisors in 1991.
Gloria tells Jessica that not all losses are negative, citing as example a 1975 lawsuit, supported by Comisión Femenil, against L.A. County General Hospital’s policy of forced sterilization of pregnant Chicanas and non-English speaking immigrant women. While the case was lost, the adverse publicity forced the hospital to craft restrictions on such procedures. It also led to Gloria’s long-term friendship with Antonia Hernandez (Lanuza), the attorney who spearheaded the case.
Director Corky Dominguez stages some vivid scenes — for example, young Gloria learning a lesson from her father Leonardo (Oscar González) on the need to be respected after her encounter with a racist salesperson (Martin Morales). Vega is heart-wrenching as a sterilized woman who recounts to Gloria and Antonia how the procedure destroyed her marriage. Dominguez also presents a witty moment wherein multiple actors perform a balletic dance with chairs.
Anthony Storniolo’s video design, consisting of quilt-like graphics unfolding on screens on both sides of the stage, gives context to the historical sequences. It also accords an affectionate nod to Gloria’s embrace of quilting after her retirement from public life. Cesar Holguin’s simple yet versatile multilevel set serves as multiple locations, including a church, the Board of Supervisors meeting room, and Gloria’s family home.
Edifying as it is, Lopez’s depiction of the telenova-style family dysfunction that led to Jessica’s dilemma is superfluous in a script already weighed down by abundant exposition and solemn dialogue. And it’s puzzling that, while Lopez touches on many aspects of Gloria’s life, her husband, businessperson Ron Martinez, is mentioned only once, and then very late in the play.
Curet does well in her rendering of the (as written) one-note Jessica, especially when she explodes over her parents’ judgment that she is not the daughter they expected. Ojeda makes for a convincing Molina, compassionate when dealing with family problems or appropriately angry when browbeating a profligate county official. And while she regrets that her anger has cost her some wins, Gloria makes it clear to Jessica that embracing that anger and bonding with other Chicanas may be her road to redemption. And, whether or not she wins her election, her life should always come first.
CASA 0101 Theater, 2102 East First Street (at St. Louis Street), Boyle Heights; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 3 pm; thru Oct. 6. www.casa0101.org Running time: approximately two hours with an intermission.
