Theater Review: THE TRAVELERS (Latino Theatre Co. & Magic Theatre at the Los Angeles Theater Center)

WHY ARE THE TRAVELERS  NOT MOVING?

The calendar listings for Luis Alfaro‘s The Travelers, currently playing at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, say “We are all travelers, Brother. Our journeys take place inside.” The trouble is that journeys presented on the stage should not only be inside, but also aesthetical and active and must be treated as such to make a viable dramatic presentation. As I watched and listened to the series of speeches voiced by this talented group of actors, I felt like I was more at a spoken word coffee house than a theater.

 The Ensemble

The play is set at a monastery in Grangeville California where a man named Juan comes seeking refuge from some dangerous company after being shot. He meets Brother Santo who questions, along with the other brothers, why Juan has come. Juan explains he visited there as a child and that he is a non-believer in need of help. The brothers determine Juan was sent by God to be saved and Brother Santo begins to initiate Brother Juan. Brother Juan meets the other brothers, Brother Daniel (Daniel Duque-Estrada) who was a self-produced clown who had his business taken away by the government, Brother Nancho (Kinan Valdez) a tough guy who was born in the grape field with feelings of unworthiness hoping to remove the anger he lives with, Brother Yiyo (Guillermo “Yiyo” Ornelas) who talks of guys in prison being animals, and Brother Ogie (Ogie Zulueta) who is confined to a bathtub being unable to walk. These monologues, each a summing up of life events and misfortunes leading to the brother joining the monastery, came off as a series of devised backstories hindering the momentum of the piece. Maybe this static methodical structure was on purpose as it falls in line with the chapter-like word titles projected on the set’s cyclorama preceding each scene, one of which was “A CLUSTER OF RITES,” evoking the listing of sacraments in Catholicism.

 The Ensemble

What followed were some humorous moments, some of them absurdist in nature. These moments were dominated by ideas critical of the church, none of which were active, voiced by the characters with varied degrees of animosity and sentiment referencing subjects political and otherwise: The concept of holy men siring children when they are supposed to be celibate; the church not following through in caring for or about the people they promise to help, particularly those who were criminals or might be homosexual; and the cessation of monastic funding by the archdiocese. These ideas amounted to words. As opposed to drama or dialogue, we got diatribe. However, the Bay Area based actors who traveled from San Francisco to do this show, each bring their own humanity to the piece. Especially worthy of note are Guillermo “Yiyo” Ornelas who brings a sweet vulnerability to his acting, Kinan Valdez who is convincing as the hardened and angry victim of the fields, and Juan Manuel Amador, the most charismatic of the company.

Ogie Zulueta and Juan Amador

 Daniel Duque-Estrada, Kinan Valdez, and Guillermo Yiyo Ornelas

I wish this show had been a better-conceived piece. The set by Tanya Orellana was attractive in its colorful earth tones but the three-deep brown mounds of “earth” with red devotional candles and a lion-foot cast-iron bathtub and toilet left me wondering whether there was symbolism I was unable to decipher, its meaning anything beyond color and candles. The hummingbird and word-title video design by Joan Osato was also pretty and in keeping with the whole. Lighting and sound were respectively by gg Torres and Christopher Sauceda. Direction was by San Francisco’s Magic Theatre artistic director Sean San José  based on the original direction by Catherine Castellanos.

Ogie Zulueta and Kinan Valdez

 Ogie Zulueta and Guillermo Yiyo Ornelas

photos by Jay Yamada

The Travelers
Latino Theater Company
in association with San Francisco’s Magic Theatre and Campo Santo
Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St.
ends on October 15, 2023
Thurs-Sat at 8; Sun at 4
for tickets ($22-$48), call 213.489.0994 or visit LATC
parking ($8) with validation at Joe’s Parking structure, just south of the theater

Juan Amador and Ogie Zulueta

 Ogie Zulueta

 Guillermo Yiyo Ornelas

The Latino Theater Company runs the Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown. Housed in a converted historic bank building, the center has five theaters and a spacious lounge and office space.