If pre-election worries have got you feeling all angsty about November 5, then head on over to Theatricum Botanicum for The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote, Bernardo Cubría’s couldn’t-be-more-topical-or-entertaining cure for the pre-election blues.

Xochitl Romero stars as 39-year-old Latinx Studies professor Paola Aguilar, who’s just been offered an easy way out of the oceans of debt she’s incurred in her so-far unsuccessful attempt to conceive a child the in-vitro way.

All she has to do is accept a short-term job advising the four-member think tank that’s been tasked with shoring up The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote in the upcoming presidential elections, and so far at least, their efforts have been mostly in vain.

Not that the political party in question hasn’t been doing their darnedest “to find that magic elixir of Niño Jesus, and machismo, but like pro-life and pro-immigration, with a dash of ‘se habla español,’” that will score them the majority share of The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote, or so explains think-tank head Kaj Lutken (Steven C. Fisher).

Things haven’t been going their way, however, which is why if Paola will just accept their lucrative offer ($50,000 up front, $50,000 the day of the election, no matter who wins, and an additional $50,000 for every 1 percentage point she helps them swing from the last election), they just might start getting it right.

And so Paola agrees to join Kai and fellow think-tankers Nicola Ramirez (Emily Jerez), who’s half-Cuban but doesn’t speak Spanish: Rebecca Feldman (Laura Schein), who’s Jewish and does speak Spanish; and Bernard Robinson (Max Lawrence), there to represent the African-American community, in an effort to help them understand the voting block they’re targeting.

The trouble is that the Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné voters they’re attempting to sway their way are no more monolithic than their non-Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné counterparts, Argentinians, Venezuelans, and Mexicans being about as similar to each other as Michiganders, Mississippians, or Minnesotans are in the USA, and if Kaj and the others don’t get this through their thick heads, there’s no way they can increase their share of The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote.

As Paola conducts a series of interviews with a variety of Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné voters (all of them brought deliciously to life by Roland Ruiz), she continues to navigate the stormy seas of IVF, all the while conducting her own series of interviews with Theatricum audience members: How tall should the sperm donor be? Should she choose a donor of her own or another ethnicity? Given the choice between Rodeo Clown, Sensitive Tough Guy, and Grandma’s Boy, which one should she pick?

And we’re just getting started on the theatrical rollercoaster ride that is The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote as playwright Cubría breaks whatever stereotypes Paola (or we in the audience) may have had about her or her costars in one richly layered performance after another elicited by ace co-directors Cubría and Willow Geer.

In one of the year’s most captivating and commanding lead performances, the instantly sympathetic Romero educates and endears in equal measure, her on-fire star turn supported by the all-around fabulous Jerez, Lawrence, and Schein, each of whom gets his or her own showcase scene in which to upend preconceived notions and shine, and Ruiz dazzles again and again as (among others) a 57-year-old Cuban immigrant, a 68-year-old Nuyorican from the Bronx, and a 45-year-old Mexican farmer, each with their own pre-election concerns.

Meanwhile, Theatricum Botanicum interns Atlas Alma, Blaire Battle, Michael DiNardo, and Timothy Willard make the very most of their background player turns, with Willard scoring bonus points for holding up the world, or at least one big part of it, for an achingly long while.

Production design-wise, Lou Cranch’s costumes fit each character to a T, Hayden Kirschbaum’s lighting is his accustomed impeccable work (particularly after sunset), and sound designer Grant Escandón merits his own high marks for his assortment of music and effects.

Stella Ramirez is assistant director. Beth Eslick is wardrobe supervisor. Candice Segarra-Stroud is stage manager and Chris Ordonez is assistant stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

If laughter is indeed the best medicine, then I can’t think of a better cure for what ails us this pre-election season than The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latiné Vote. I may be neither Hispanic nor Latino nor Latina nor Latinx nor Latiné, but Bernardo Cubría’s latest gem of a comedy most definitely gets my vote.

Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga.
www.theatricum.com

–Steven Stanley
August 24, 2024
Photos: Ian Flanders

Tags: Bernardo Cubría, Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatricum Botanicum