Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary is another of the wonderful one-woman shows we have seen this year in Los Angeles. This seems to be an age of theater reminiscent of the halycon first days of the singer-songwriter, in which the same artist lives through, writes down, and eventually performs a story with personal investment no one else can rival.
In the theater these stories are amplified by three-dimensional imagery. For Chibas, the most versatile icon is the massive metal speaker, now lying in the sand, which once hung above the stage with the others. It's a stark reminder of the great communicators who fell – from grace or by their own hand. Chibas' reconnaissance has artfully righted them all, and reminded us that we keep our currency by maintaining the stories of those who went before.
There is a moment in the play where Chibas is validated by a coincidence of great signficance. Similarly, the brief drive home following the show provided an illustrative story about the resuscitative power of language. Appropriately, it came through the radio. A story on the ill-fated Scott expedition ended with the reading of the explorer’s final letter to his “widow” before he froze. Even in a woman's voice, the words of the letter brought Scott alive again. He could be clearly seen, huddled under a skin of frozen canvas, packing himself like gunpowder into each word, to be revived in some unimaginable future, through a strange speaker, to share a night ride home.
After closing a few days ago, the play will move on to New York's DR2 Theater from May 9-June 2.
CREDITS: written and performed by Marissa Chibas, directed by Mira Kingsley. Dan Evans, set; Karen Murk, cotumes; Rebecca M.K. Makus, lights; Colbert S. Davis IV, sound; Adam Fleming, video; Anne Garcia-Romero, dramaturgy.
Article comments