Xochitl Romero questions the audience on its knowledge of South American countries.
Photo: Ian Flanders
By LIBBY MOTIKA
Circling the News Contributor
It’s not often when you see a play about an election that doesn’t involve backroom drama, a candidate’s demons, or the breathless election-night count.
No, Bernard Cubria is interested in the so-called myth of the mono “Latino” vote— somehow more than 60 million people vote in lock step.
That it’s absurd to expect that every single Latino or Hispanic person from Tijuana to Buenos Aires would think and vote the exact same way.
So instead of railing against the wild misconception, he wrote a comedic play, “The Hispanic/Latino/Latina, Latinx/Latine Vote,” now on stage at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. He addresses the topic with wit and his belief that life is absurd and ridiculous.
A group of political strategists for THE political party are looking for an “expert” to help them understand the Latino vote. The job carries a handsome paycheck. Researcher and professor Paola Aguilar (Xochiti Romero), who has undergone years of fertility treatments and the debt that ensues, hesitantly takes on the job. After all, she’s pragmatic–money is money.
Unfortunately, the job is nearly hopeless as she tries to get the pundits to understand all the nuances of her community.
The play was conceived a year and a half ago, originally commissioned by Florida’s Studio Theatre in collaboration with the Milagro Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
To get a sampling of authentic Latino voters, Cubria interviewed over 500 voters in Florida and Oregon. This is reflected in both the pundits who, in conducting the interviews, try to understand how Latinos vote, and the sampling of interviewees, portrayed with brilliance by Roland Ruiz’s quick-silver transformation from an explosive, cynical man who sneers at the value of his vote, to a florid Florida woman, who just “loved Hillary.”
Cubria, who directs with Willow Geer, involves the audience, which the night I attended became more and more invested in the proceedings.
Romero is stuck deciding what her sperm donor should be and turns to the audience for our opinion in filling out the application. We help her decide and find the right vibe. How tall should he be. She turns to a couple in the audience. “How tall is your kid?” she asks. “Thirty-five inches,” the mom replies. The audience laughs. Aguilar ponders, “That’s small.”
In combining the Latino vote with the IVF journey, Cubria, a proud Mexican American, says he joined “the most two-dimensional thing in my life with the most three-dimensional thing in my life.”
The play is funny, which Cubria with a background in comedy, finds useful in pursing the nuances in life. “In a day, you’ll have a funny incident and another you’ll have a very serious moment,” he says.
“The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote” will have eight productions over the next year, aligning with the election. This is the first production. The show will change in each city depending on the audience.
“I’m really interested how to make theater specifically for local audiences and for it to feel like it was written on the day you watch it, especially because it’s about this election,” Cubria says. “We keep changing lines every night based on the headlines that are happening.”
The play continues through October 20 at the Theatricum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. Contact theatricum.com/the-vote for specific dates and times.