By Ed Rampell
Don’t be a victim of circumstances, get thee to LATC ASAP to see La Victima before it closes. The Latino Theater Company’s 25th anniversary production is a generational saga that follows the Villas and Mendozas, two families originally from South of the border, and their trials and travails in El Norte. These Mexicans-cum-Mexican-Americans are subjected to the vicissitudes of revolution, war, immigration policies and the twists and turns of the labor market in a capricious, opportunistic U.S. economy that exploits then expediently deports immigrant workers, depending on fluctuations of the market.
In an early deportation scene the young Amparo (the versatile Alexis de la Rocha) is tearfully separated from her son Sammy (Oliver Rayon), who remains behind in Los Angeles. This tearing asunder of the family sets the trajectory of La Victima’s plot, as the adult Sammy (powerfully played by Geoffrey Rivas) grows up to become a Korean War soldier and then a conflicted migre.
Although it was originally written by El Teatro De La Esperanza in 1976 and was the Latino Theater Company’s very first show, La Victima is, unfortunately, timelier than ever. It is also part of the SoCal stages' current left-tilting trend featuring favorable depictions of communists, leftists and unions, including: Il Postino (with Placido Domingo as Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in L.A. Opera’s Spanish language opera); Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin; Voices, A Legacy To Remember (which depicts singer/actor/activist Paul Robeson); Carry It On! (which depicts Woody Guthrie and Lillian Hellman); and a revival of Clifford Odets’ classic proletarian drama, Waiting for Lefty. To be sure, the red flags fluttering on the LATC stage are emblazoned with the United Farm Workers’ black union eagle, but with its bold portrayal of a huelga (strike) the Latino Theater Company is sort of to the left of and complementing Waiting for Lefty, which ends with laborers (and audience members) merely calling for the strike that actually takes place onstage in La Victima.
Amparo’s daughter Antonia (an impassioned Lucy Rodriguez) is a strike leader, and all hell breaks loose when a concerned Amparo shows up at the UFW rally -- and the empire strikes back. The ultimate plot twist is worthy of O. Henry, and reveals that the real victims are those who collaborate with the powers-that-be, as soldiers, Customs agents, etc.
La Victima is also radical in form, opting for a bold Brechtian style skillfully directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of the Latino Theater Company and LATC. The highly stylized form fully enhances and complements the play’s progressive content. In particular, the music provided by the performing and recording team of Cita and Ricardo Ochoa serves to enliven and heighten the emotions and story of this production, which is more of a play with music, as opposed to being a musical per se. Cita has great verve as La Cantante; clad in a low cut, sexy flamenco type of dress, with her shaved head and brash style, this sexually ambiguous singer-cum-performance artist looks and sounds as if she just jumped off the stage of a Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht musical. Imagine if Lotte Lenya had portrayed Mac the Knife instead of Jenny in Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, and you’ll get the picture – well, sort of, because Cita kind of has to be seen and heard to be believed. Choreographer Urbanie Lucero and sound designer John Zalewski have done yeomen’s work here bringing this piece of epic theatre alive with ringing, singing music, song and dance.
As has the ensemble cast, with most of the actors artfully performing multiple roles and deftly directed by Valenzuela. Veteran actor Sal Lopez (Zoot Suit; Beverly Hills Chihuahua) plays, among other parts, a wily coyote who smuggles Amparo (the only character depicted by that other stage and big/little screen veteran, Lupe Ontiveros) back across the border, hidden beneath the driver’s seat of his truck. Kudos to Alexis de la Rocha, who, in addition to playing young Amparo and Janie, has a great comic turn as the nerdy, sexually aggressive Rosita, who tries to seduce Antonia’s (Lucy Rodriguez) brother Meno (Luis Aldana), who seems as unsure of his sexuality as he is of participating in the UFW strike. (A good Reichian point, by the way, linking potency and oppression.)
This highly enjoyable, rousing, thought and emotion-provoking production of La Victima is a revival worthy of celebrating the Latino Theater Company’s silver anniversary. It is in both English and Spanish, with supertitles clearly projected on the rear wall of the dialogue and lyrics in the language that is not at that moment being said or sung. But as La Victima reminds us, to paraphrase Eugene Debs, from “stachka” to “huelga,” “strike!” is one of the boldest words in any language. Don’t miss this people’s play. Ole y venceremos!
(La Victima runs through Oct. 31 at the Los Angeles Theatre Centre, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, 90013. For more info: 866/811-4111; www.thelatc.org)
