The Los Angeles Theatre Center Hosts "Encuentro 2024" A Three Week Theatre Festival with 19 Companies Across the U.S and Puerto Rico

To Close this Sunday, November 10th

A Blog View by Alejandra Enciso-Dardashti

I have heard about the Encuentros happening at LATC and after 10 years of the first edition, From Another Zero had a chance to catch a glimpse of the magno event, be presente for a weekend, and see six shows out of the 19 theater companies and 165 artists from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico that have been and will be presenting until this Sunday. 

La Golondrina. Photo by Michael Palma

Choosing what to watch was not easy, but we tried and aimed for companies based outside of California to see work we do not normally see. Starting off strong, the first play was La Golondrina by New York-based Repertorio Español, in collaboration with Puerto Rico-based Tantai Teatro PR. A two-actor play performed in Spanish where Amelia (Zulema Clares) a vocal coach is conducting a lesson with Ramón (Rafa Sánchez), who wants to prepare a special song for his dad's memorial. Ramón's real intentions with Amelia go past a singing lesson and have to do with a terrorist attack that happened years past at a Gay bar. As the play unfolds he starts showing the truth, and the tension between the two goes up high as well as the deepness of the maze where this puzzle lies. Written by Guillem Clua and directed by Ismanuel Rodríguez, “La Golondrina” is well-written and the direction manages great timing with comedic relief as the tension and the shock rise, guiding and taking care of the audience at the same time. Clares is mighty as Amelia showing strong stage rapport with Rafa Sánchez while taking audiences for a crude ride. Ismanuel Rodríguez is also responsible for the lighting design that locked in those key moments as well as Milton M. Cordero's projection design that illustrated that horrific night. 'Golondrina is a strong and moving piece. 

Blanco Temblor. Photo by Raquel Vázquez

The second piece was Blanco Temblor, a play by the Puerto Rican-based company Teatro Público.

Marina del Mar (Gabriela Saker) is a Puerto Rican astrophysicist suffering from bipolar disorder who has attempted suicide once and has a congenital disease where she is unable to tremble. Marina navigates through therapies in a psychiatric ward and takes the audience along her journey through medication, self-thoughts, and coexisting with her ward buddy Irene (Laura Isabel Cabrera), along with supernatural encounters with her father (Maximiliano Rivas) and grandmother Alicia, and worldly ones with her mother Candela (both played by Carola García López). The piece includes a video projection in the middle top of the stage in a dream catcher-shaped screen accompanied by contemporary dance and fascinating, playful dialogues that are also smart quoting Cortázar, Shakespeare, and Chomsky. Written and directed by Carola García López, the play has a nice flow with solid performances. With a production design by Ángela Sofía Caro, the set includes floating lips, eyes, and noses that perfectly illustrate Marina's brain as she copes not only with her situation but with others' perceptions of her situation. I believe the video is unnecessary as it distracts from what is happening on stage. The dialogues are so well-rounded, that they are enough to hold the piece. 

There will be two more performances of Blanco Temblor on Thursday, November. 7, and Friday, November 8, at 8:00 p.m. 

Photo. Su Teatro

The third play was Interview with a Mexican from the Denver Colorado-based Su Teatro. Inspired by Gustavo Arellano's column ¡Ask a Mexican!, adapted and directed by Anthony J Garcia,  “Interview”, incorporates satire and comedy mixing in the Anglo stereotypes about Mexicans as well as the Mexican paisanos living in The States. There is also music, dance, and a Jeopardy parody titled "Jaguar Jeopardy", courtesy of Lorenzo Gonzalez along with an almost side-by-side, on-site or more like on-stage dubbed reenactment of one of the many iconic scenes in the movie Selena, being one of the best parts of the piece as it does have some discrepancies; for example, the only female actress in the cast was portraying a Mexican woman but, when a Mexico-Puerto Rico sort of roast comes along, she is declared the official Puerto Rican in the company (?) also certain jokes would not fully land feeling dated and in need of an update. Lorenzo Gonzalez in the lead role of "The Mexican Goldhat" is definitely a standout and brings variety and playfulness in different accents. 

Interview with a Mexican will have two more performances on Friday, November 8, and Sunday, November 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Photo. Water People Theater

The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon was the fourth piece from Water People Theater based in Chicago Illinois. Written and performed by Rebeca Alemán, and directed by Iraida Tapias. Paulina (Rebeca Alemán) is a Venezuelan reporter who constantly raises awareness on issues such as organ trafficking, indigenous rights, and femicides, among many others. The play begins with Paulina lying in a bed, trying to speak and remember why she is in a place that is not her home and surrounded by people who are not her family. Rodrigo (Eric K. Roberts), her coworker, is in charge of taking care of Paulina, helping her to remember because she holds important information that could help ensure the safety of a victim’s family members in a femicide case. The problem is that Paulina doesn't remember and can hardly speak because she was the victim of an attack aimed at silencing her.

The play unfolds with the two actors in a space so intimate that you can feel the palpitations, and experience the tension, sadness, and anger over these daily attacks on journalists, especially in Latin America. Alemán’s performance is vivid and raw, truly articulating with difficulty as someone in recovery would after nearly losing their life. Eric, in his role, provides some relief in the scenes amidst everything happening, as the performance goes uninterrupted for 90 minutes before offering any opportunity for a breather. I have to truly commend Marisabel Muñoz as she took on the titanic task of set, props, and costume design. The set was spot on, using every last bit of the small stage space and filling it with books and other props that truly hosted the scenes.  

With this play, the company exercises theater as a form of protest and also serves as a record.

There will be two more performances this Friday, November 8th at 8:30 pm and Saturday, November 9th at 5:00 pm.

Red Rose. Photo by Krystal Conye

The Red Rose was second to last in our six-show venture written and directed by Rosalba Rolón from the Bronx, New York-based, Pregones/Puerto Rican traveling theater. This is a musical theater tribute to foundational Afro/Black Puerto Rican writer and social activist Jesús Colón that uncovers a little-known chapter in the history of the McCarthy era Red Scare. This is one of the bigger pieces of the festival with four musicians playing live onstage along with musical director Desmar Guevara and a cast of six performers that sing, dance, and act. One of the numbers in the first act reminded me of In the Heights's Paciencia y Fe and I consider there needed to be cohesion between the first and second act. Harry Nadal's costume design is on point along with Eduardo Resendiz's sound design. This musical is definitely innovative and the music is good. There will be two more performances on Saturday, November 9th at 4:00p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Photo Camino 23

I did mention picking works outside of California but, I had to support San Diego's own Camino 23 with the play Stoneheart, written and translated by Georgina Escobar and directed by Daniel Jáquez. This play has magic realism all over and is very Pedro Páramo-like as Birdie (Valeria Vega) the family matriarch is into her ways but always maintains appearances even though her relationship with her husband Héctor (Markuz Rodríguez) and her daughters Magdalena (Adriana Cuba Cuentas) and Josefina (Vanessa Flores Cabrera) is not the strongest. Héctor owns the border town's school and hosts Samara (Lourdes Arteaga) a student, in the family home asking Birdie to tend to the girl. Samara is Native American and Birdie becomes smitten which sparks jealousy with Josefina who is also having marital issues. There is a cowboy (Lester Isariuz) who more than visiting, is a constant shadow for Birdie, and with that shocking events take place changing the course of the family forever. This work was devised by the young collective and Georgina Escobar's world has an ethereal quality while the performances, although rushed at times, did land and finished strong. Stoneheart has two more performances on Thursday, November 7, and Saturday, November 9th at 8:00 p.m.

The Latino Theatre Company curated a hefty number of plays that celebrate, shine a light, create awareness, and serve as a record and memory through the art of theatre.

We did mini-reseñas on our main ego in Español´s Instagram and you can check them out HERE.

The final performances of the different companies will take place from Thursday to Sunday. Ticket prices range from $10 to 48 dollars. All Thursday night performances are 10 dollars.

For more information on the schedule please CLICK HERE.