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<\/a>Sal L\u00f3pez on the deck and Geoffrey Rivas on the roof. Photo by Grettel Cortes, as is the one above.<\/p><\/div>\n
In case you\u2019ve never been to anything at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC,) I\u2019m here to walk you through the experience. It\u2019s a good-sized building in downtown LA which houses a handful of theatres of varying sizes. There\u2019s a giant communal lobby, which is wonderful for pre-and-post-show mingling. I believe that Latino Theater Company, which runs the facility, produces the most plays there.<\/p>\n
Speaking In Tongues<\/em> is in a theatre on the lower level. (But don\u2019t worry if you have knee issues, as I<\/em> do\u2014there\u2019s an elevator.) It\u2019s \u201carena-style\u201d seating, and very steep. (So choose your seats at the top if you don\u2019t like steps. Those are the best to take in the entire tableau, anyway.)<\/p>\n As soon as we entered the space, both Gigi and I were wowed by the uber-creative set by Prairie T. Trivuth. It depicts the outside area in front of the church, and on top is a\u2026cornfield!!! That was unexpected. And the dramatic parts are highlighted with really good lighting designs by Xinyuan Li.<\/p>\n The set, from the top of the arena seating, with director Jose Luis Valenzuela greeting the audience. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Possibly because I was honestly exhausted on Opening Night, (which means that I was happy to see a show that\u2019s only seventy-five minutes long!,) I\u2019m not exactly sure what the actual narrative of the play is. I never read descriptions before I see a show, in order to discover it for myself, but I later learned that the tale is that the pastor of this church in predominantly Mexican-American San Joaquin Valley, (the program does not list a setting or time,) had disappeared, and I guess his wife and a few others are deciding what to do about continuing the congregation. Or something like that. So I\u2019m sure there\u2019s some deeper meaning to the script than what I understood.<\/p>\n But I swear, my nescience, (and possibly your own,) does not matter to one\u2019s enjoyment of the show in the slightest; the writing in Speaking In Tongues<\/em> is so clever that I looked forward to each next line! Here\u2019s one of my favorites: One man mentions a \u201crave,\u201d so the other one asks him what a \u201crave\u201d is. (They\u2019re both senior citizens.) That first one answers, \u201cA rave is a party that takes the souls away from young people.\u201d That one is amusing enough, (and pretty true, which I can say as a former club promoter,) but then the second guy quickly declares, \u201cI thought that was Coachella!\u201d Ba dum bum.<\/p>\n (L-R) Geoffrey Rivas, Lucy Rodr\u00edguez, and Sal L\u00f3pez. Photo by Grettel Cortes.<\/p><\/div>\n As I said, I did not understand the religious elements, but I totally appreciated the journey. And though the story is of a way different religion than mine, much of the situation is universal. A theme of too many potato salads could be about my own<\/em> people\u2019s events as much as it is about those of these Pentecostals! And I finally realized that \u201cThe First 48\u201d that they keep referencing is a Dateline<\/em>-esque TV show, not some religious ritual. As a crime show junkie, I was totally down with all that.<\/p>\n All of the actors are excellent. I had seen four of the quintet, (Sal L\u00f3pez,\u00a0Geoffrey Rivas, Lucy Rodriguez, and Evelina Fern\u00e1ndez,) together here three years ago in Whittier Boulevard<\/em>. (And gave it a great review, which you can still read here if you like: itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/theatre-whittier-boulevard<\/a>.) And I\u2019m now a fan of the beautiful voice of Esperanza Am\u00e9rica, who was new to me. She sings hauntingly throughout the show.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a special interesting feature of Speaking In Tongues<\/em>, which I don\u2019t know if this company does in all of their productions. Gigi and my reactions to it are two-fold. All the lines are superimposed in Spanish on part of the front of the stage. I\u2019m sure they do it for their Spanish-only-speaking audiences, but I<\/em> took it as educational\u2014I always want to speak\/understand that language much better than I do. So I found it to be both interesting and distracting at the same time, while Gigi said it was only distracting to her.<\/p>\n Evelina Fern\u00e1ndez above and Esperanza Am\u00e9rica in the center. As unknowledgeable as I am about this particular religion and culture, I realized afterwards that I had a lot in common with a few of the creatives of this production. At the Opening Night reception, playwright Luis Alfaro and I got to share reminiscences about our mutual good friend, the late Founding Artistic Director of the Center Theatre Group, Gordon Davidson. And I read that Esperanza Am\u00e9rica received her B.A. from the UCLA School of Theater, which Mr. X and I also attended. (Mr. X went there for his MFA, but his acting career took off a few credits short, so he had to forego that degree, and I also took theatre classes while I was a dance major. Gigi went there, as well, getting her B.A. in Psychology, which might explain how she can be friends with me<\/em>!) And I noticed that male understudy J.Ed Araiza is a professor in that department! So a big shout-out to UCLA, from all of us Bruins!<\/p>\n Speaking In Tongues<\/em>\u00a0running through November 15, 2026<\/strong> SPEAKING IN TONGUES A Jewish girl and a Hindu girl walk into a show about a Pentecostal church, and\u2026we really enjoyed it! My friend Gigi and I didn\u2019t understand much of the religious aspect of Speaking In Tongues, but we didn\u2019t need to because the rest of the show is very funny. Any show that<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
Photo by Grettel Cortes.<\/p><\/div>\n
\nLATC\u00a0\u00a0514 S. Spring Street, DTLA<\/strong>
\nwww.latinotheaterco.org<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"