THE LAUGHS ARE IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH, TOO
Playwright Alexis Scheer draws on her Colombian-Jewish upbringing in Miami to create this comic celebration of the city’s Wynwood arts scene and the people who make it happen. Directed by another daughter of Miami, Mariela Lopez-Ponce, who, like Scheer, is now based in Boston (is it the weather?), Laughs in Spanish brings Latino verve and passion, along with some very stylish dance moves by Audrey Johnson, to the Roberts Studio Theatre stage.
Brogan Nelson and Rebekah Rae Robles
Inspired by the Latin American telenovela genre, Laughs in Spanish is a comedy-crime drama-family drama-love story. The play opens on the morning before Studio Six Miami gallery owner Mari (Rebekah Rae Robles) is to exhibit the work of famed artist Marco Diaz for the Miami edition of the international art event Art Basel. But when the lights come up on the stage, we find Mari, along with her assistant Caro (Luz Lopez) and a uniformed police officer (Jaun, played by Daniel Rios, Jr.), standing before the gallery’s bare walls. The art has all been stolen!
Daniel Rios Jr. and Luz Lopez
Further complications ensue when Mari’s mother, the famed film star Estella (Paola Ferrer) unexpectedly arrives, along with Mari’s former crush Jenny (Brogan Nelson).
Paola Ferrer and Rebekah Rae Robles
These five characters trip over themselves and each other in their efforts to untangle their predicament before the 7 pm gallery opening. Estella, who both writes and stars in various film and TV serials, is referred to as Latina Fey. She talks about a new drama she’s working on for HBO inspired by the Diego Velasquez painting Las Meninas. she say she will play the queen, and In a sly reference to her role in Laughs in Spanish, comments that while the drama is ostensibly about the queen’s daughter, the Queen is the thematic star.
Luz Lopez, Rebekah Rae Robles, and Daniel Rios Jr.
Estella is indeed the star of this show, though it seems to be about Mari and her dilemma. She commands the attention of everyone else with her imperious presence. That is exactly her problem’”and the reason her daughter Mari is far from happy to see her. We get enough backstory to learn that throughout Mari’s life, Estella has tried to build a good relationship with her daughter, but Estella’s fame always got in the way. Ferrer conveys Estella’s longing to repair her relationship with her daughter while maintaining her elegance and narcissism. Yet Estella has a major part in saving the day that has begun with such a disaster for Mari.
Rebekah Rae Robles and Luz Lopez
Good lines abound. In addition to the reference to Estella as Latina Fey, they include comments like “Are you about to mansplain internalized misogyny to me?” and “Kiss me in Spanish.” God, it turns out, is “a brown woman with hips and swagger like Our Lady Celia Cruz.” There’s the language barrier with Alexa, who doesn’t always respond when summoned to play music, and the plot in general, which I won’t spoil here, but be assured that it’s got several amusing surprises.
Paola Ferrer, Brogan Nelson and Rebekah Rae Robles
The set by Erik D. Diaz is very Miami — white fixtures with orange accents, dense tropical foliage on the patio adjoining the gallery. As soon as we see it, we know we are in a Miami arts district. But throughout the show, I really wanted to see some of the artwork at the center of the story, and I would argue that there is a missed opportunity in the bare gallery walls. Why not hang the Marco Diaz paintings on the walls for the audience to see as they enter and settle into their seats. When the lights go out to bring the actors on stage, have the paintings go missing so we can share Mari’s shock when she is confronted with the theft. Later, when another artist exhibits paintings, an artist said to have either influenced or to have been influenced by Diaz, the exact same paintings could be hung, now arranged differently.
Luz Lopez and Daniel Rios Jr.
In a post-show live interview, Scheer, who has had work produced Off-Broadway as well as in other parts of the country and on film and television, commented that although she lives in Boston, this production was the first time one of her plays has been produced on a Boston stage. She urged the audience to patronize the original work of local playwrights and given the good turnout for the post-show discussion, we can hope to see more of Scheer and other local playwrights in coming seasons.
photos courtesy of Nile Scott Studios
Laughs in Spanish
SpeakEasy Stage Company
Roberts Studio Theatre, Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston
Wed & Thurs at 7; Fri at 7:30; Sat at 2 & 7:30; Sun at 3; Thurs at 2 (Oct 10)
ends on October 12, 2024
for tickets (starting at $25), call 617.933.8600 or visit SpeakEasyStage
