Robert Moris Castillo and Casara Clark (Photo by Rudy Torres)
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
CASA 0101
Through November 2
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that officially ended the Mexican-American War was signed on February 2, 1848 and brought monumental changes to both countries. (The U.S gained 525,000 square miles of territory and established the Rio Grande as the border for Texas.) Citizenship rights were granted for Mexicans who chose to remain in areas that were ceded to the United States, and this caused decades of hostility and resentment from their White neighbors who refused to accept them as fellow Americans and who often violated their land rights using violence — and sometimes murder.
Playwright Josefina López’s world premiere drama unfolds in 1910 during this tension-filled era in a small town close to the Mexican -American border, months before the tumult of the Mexican Revolution. The town’s electrical grid has been mysteriously disrupted, and the power company has sent electrician Raymond Brown (Robert Moris Castillo) to repair it. His early encounter with Adela Borrego, (Corina Calderon), the widow of a man who was murdered, foreshadows ugly troubles with the town ruffians, Gerald Painter (Andrew Laughery), Jack Powers (Timothy Willard), and a violent, bigoted sheriff ,Andrew Stevens (Dustin Loomis), who has no love for “greasers” (one of many slurs he uses for Mexicans) who insist on their lawful rights. It is at this point that a shocking, ugly secret about the failure of the power grid emerges.
As the play progresses, Brown becomes increasingly involved in the struggles of Adela and her family to survive and hold onto their land, but when, in Act II, Adela’s sister-in-law Marie-Teresa Borrego (Sierra Perez-Gelbman) must deal with the violent death of her husband Bernardo Borrego (Ryan Padilla), it comes down to a decision to stay and fight or flee to Mexico.
The finale here is too convenient. López is a gifted storyteller with a knack for rich, colorful dialogue, but this script isn’t her best: it takes a lot of unnecessary detours, indulges in needless melodrama, and has some very improbable plot twists (The one involving Brown’s true identity is particularly puzzling). The performances are quite good, across the board, under Corky Dominquez’s direction. Kudos to Cesar Retana Holguin for a simple but effective set design and to Anthony Storniolo for a colorful atmospheric projection design.
CASA 0101, 2102 E. First St., East LA; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 3 pm; thru Nov. 2. tickets@casa0101.org Running time 2 hours, with one ten minute intermission.
