Always Running
Reviewed by Dana Martin
CASA 0101 Theater and Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore
Extended through November 24
RECOMMENDED
Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Luis J. Rodriguez believes that art holds the power of transformation. His new play Always Running, based on his 1993 memoir entitled Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., chronicles his fraught adolescence and highlights the Chicano civil rights movement in the 60s and 70s. Adapted for the stage by Luis J. Rodriguez and Hector Rodriguez, Always Running is a gem of a play with a story that must be told.
East Los Angeles, 1960s. Rival gangs Lomas and Sangra are at war with one another. Luis (Rufino Romero), a hard, drug-addicted teenager with suicidal tendencies, turns to the Lomas gang for a sense of community and inclusion. The story settles on the relationship between Luis and his mentor, Chente Ramirez (Joshua Nicholas), a neighborhood youth counselor.
Chente recognizes Luis’s artistic abilities and nurtures young Luis through encouragement and guidance, channeling his anger and defiance into productive expressions of art. When Luis has several relapses and is constantly in and out of jail, Chente remains supportive but is frustrated by the youth’s seemingly constant setbacks. Chente decides to propose a truce between the Lomas and rival gang Sangra — an agreement that would put an end to years of violence with a radical move toward peace. The men comply and sign the peace contract, only to become victims of police discrimination and brutality in a covert effort to perpetuate gang violence.
The play is told in a series of vignettes. Director/adapter Hector Rodriguez stages a clean production that depicts 60’s Chicano culture accurately and empathetically. The pace is at times slow, but the content is always engaging. Costume designer Abel Alvarado nails time and place and adds a vital part to the storytelling. Kam Ying Lee’s projection design personalizes the narrative through use of authentic neighborhood photographs. Marco De Leon’s set is sparse and functional. Sound designer Joe Luis Cedillo furnishes a killer soundtrack that adds much to the play’s tone and transitions.
The performances fall within a wide spectrum of experience and ability. Rufino Romero is superb as Luis J. Rodriguez. He swings freely between love and violence, rage and tenderness. Joshua Nicholas provides a solid foundation as Chente Ramirez. Rachel Lemos is strong and engaging as Viviana, Luis’s forbidden love interest. Alex Alpharaoh is both sinister and sympathetic as fellow gang member Puppet. Haylee Sanchez delivers solid support as Payasa and later as Luis’s doting wife Camila.
The Chicano Movement was a mostly non-violent social movement that sought equal rights for the Chicano community; it remains an important piece of American history. Always Running juxtaposes the difficulties encountered by the movement with the very personal struggles of Luis J. Rodriguez as a young man. It humanizes the young people who turn to gangs for a sense of inclusion and protection — those youngsters within communities ravaged by poverty, gang violence, drug abuse and police brutality.
Always Running is ultimately a story about hope, change and the transformative power of imagination. It’s also a call for more Chicano stories to be told, and for more Chicano literature to be incorporated into school curriculum. The time is now.
¡Sí se puede!
CASA 0101 Theater, 2102 E. 1st St., Boyle Heights; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m. (Sep. 7, 14 & 21 only); Sun., 5 p.m.; no performances Sep. 27-29 & Nov. 1-3; extended through Nov. 24. (323) 263-7684 or casa0101.org. Running time: two hours with one 10-minute intermission.
