Theater Reviews: Friends Like These, The Crossing, Peace, Somebody’s Somebody

Also, F*ucking Men, The Kingdom Come, The Golden Gays and more

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Theater Critics Tuesday, Sep 15 2009

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Courtesy Theatre Unleashed

Friends Like These

Michael Lamont

F*cking Men

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THY KINGDOM COME In his theatrical debut, playwright Jarad Sanchez explores a little-known corner of Mexican history, dramatizing how the inhabitants of the village of Yanga overthrew their colonial masters and became the first free town in the Americas. While the African slave Yanga (Joel Virgil), for whom the town was named, primarily orchestrated the battle against Spain, a fierce Aztec slave named Santiago (Ryan De Mesa) becomes the focus of the play’s action when he is forced to care for the infant of a colonial master who is killed during a revolt. Despite the rich source material, and the important story, the heavy-handed exposition and the lack of depth in both the dialogue and character relationships fail to mask the fact that Sanchez initially wrote this for the screen. Elizabeth Otero’s direction similarly doesn’t theatricalize the material effectively, with her brisk pacing of the short scenes leaving one hungry for higher stakes and fuller character exploration, as well as greater use of nonverbal nuance. Tony Carranza’s costumes, however, are both aesthetically appealing and appear historically accurate. As always, CASA 0101 fulfills an important role in the community and should be applauded for presenting a story that, with some adjustments, has the potential to dramatize powerfully the intersection of African and Latino colonial history. CASA 0101, 2009 E. First St., East L.A.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through October 4. (323) 263-7684. (Mayank Keshaviah)