This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
10/18/2018 12:01 AMThe world premiere play that opens the Yale Rep season, el Huricán by Charise Castro Smith, is a family drama using Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992, as a metaphor for what happens as people develop dementia.
It is a collaboration with the Sol Project, which aims to “amplify the voices of Latinx playwrights” and is supported by the Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre. The play runs through Saturday, Oct. 20.
It seems that now that the baby boomers are approaching old age, playwrights are paying more attention to these diseases, which cause loss of self and inflict heartbreak and pain on families as well as the individuals.
It opens with an elderly woman (Valeria) standing on the stage seemingly in a reverie. She holds a magician’s wand. Quickly we are in a Havana nightclub with a very attractive young woman performing magic tricks and dancing to lovely music with the help of her very handsome male assistant. Off to the side, our elderly woman stands watching.
But we return to the more recent past, 1992, as preparations are made for the arrival of Hurricane Andrew. A woman and her adult daughter are packing up things in a house. We learn it is the house of the elderly woman and we are seeing her daughter (Ximena) and granddaughter (Miranda). That mother-daughter relationship is not good; Miranda has been living in Boston while pursuing a doctorate at Harvard and Ximena resents that she hasn’t been more attentive. The grandmother is not making things easy; sneaking things out of the “throw away” boxes to save them. It is clear she is suffering from some form of dementia.
As the hurricane hits, Fernando, an old school mate of the granddaughter’s, is staying at their house to be a male presence and keep them safe. The storm is savage and a tree falls on a nearby house. The grandmother is disturbed and restless; even the family tradition of drinking rum during a hurricane doesn’t help. Without giving too much away, in few minutes of carelessness by the granddaughter, tragedy strikes.
We fast forward to 2019, although Miranda does tell us some things that have occurred in the intervening years. She and her mother have been totally estranged, but she returned from Boston because Hurricane Penelope has again savaged Florida and because she has learned her mother is displaying signs of dementia. She brings her daughter, Val.
So el Huricán is both a memory play and a play about the destruction of the mind, using hurricanes Andrew and Penelope as metaphors.
We learn so much about this family—how the young Valeria and her husband, Alonso, left Cuba and in the U.S. were unable to reestablish their careers entertainers, instead taking menial jobs in Miami; how Alonso could not cope with Valeria’s deterioration; about the reasons for the difficulties between Miranda and her mother; and even the questions that Miranda has about her grandmother.
At times, it can seem to be confusing, trying to determine what is real and what are fragments of first Valeria and then Ximena’s dementia. So at times, Valeria talks with her sister, Alicia, who drowned years ago. Later, Ximena talks with Alonso. Not only are the hurricanes metaphors, but Alicia’s love of swimming, which led to her death by drowning, is also a metaphor for the drowning minds of Valeria and Ximena. In fact, it took me a while to realize that the young magician was Valeria and not her sister, Alicia.
Director Laurie Woolery has both assembled a fine cast and made interesting choices. In the opening sequence, the young Valeria and Alonso dance to Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me,” which resonates throughout the show. Woolery has gotten fine performances from the entire cast, many of whom play multiple roles. Yet they don’t look or seem to be the same person. Arturo Soria looks and seems completely different as Young Alonso than he does later as Fernando, and in 2019 as Theo.
Each of the three main characters are superb: Adriana Sevahn Nichols totally captures the way people with these diseases move, a shuffling gait. But she also shows us sparks of the person she once was. Maria-Christina Oliveras is excellent as Ximena; a woman who has been through a great deal and does not forgive easily. Irene Sofia Lucio plays not only the young Valeria but also Miranda as the hard-working student who still wants her mother’s love and affection. It seems that Ximena cannot truly give it.
The other cast members are also very good including Jonathan Nichols as Alonso and Jennifer Paredes as Alicia and Val.
Nic Vincent has created multiple lighting effects that propel us into the Florida and hurricane milieus. Scenic designer Gerardo Díaz Sánchez has used the turntable set to great advantage. Angharad Davies has choreographed the nightclub scenes to give them a truly 1950s vibe. In addition there are fine projections by Yaara Bar and tricks by magic designer Christopher Rose.
No matter your experiences, el Huricán is a sad play, but those who have had experience with dementia may find it totally devastating.
For tickets, visit yalerep.org or call 203-432-1234. It is being produced at the University Theatre, 222 York Street.