Playwright: Jose Rivera. At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn. Phone: 312-443-3800; $25-$70. Runs through: July 26. Photo by Eric Y. Exit
nless they were public figures, their every step and utterance documented in triplicate, your parents' courtship will forever be shrouded in mystery—like a folk myth handed down through the generations, each storyteller bending the facts ever so slightly to his own purposes. José Rivera's account of his mother's life journey has the otherworldly ambience of a fairy tale—but, like all good fairy tales, it has its dark as well as its sunny sides.
The "America" song in West Side Story was not inaccurate in its inventory of Puerto Rico's attractions and drawbacks during the 1950s. The Caribbean island was, indeed, a land of balmy tropical climes and proud agricultural dynasties—as well as hurricanes, sweltering heat and overcrowded cities. Small wonder that young country-bred Flora should reject marriage to a swain espousing the sexist views of his society, instead binding her future to the free-thinking Eusebio, with whom she travels to the United States to find a better life.
As they stand poised together on their wedding day, however, the Goodman Theatre stage revolves to show us these same lovers 40 years later, their lives once again riddled with conflicts, contradictions and uncertainty. Eusebio has lost both legs to diabetes. Flora is now his patient nurse. The doctor and the priest who look in on them from time to time both worry about the dynamic engendered by this isolated co-dependency. The betrothed couple from Flora's church who visit them leave with somber thoughts on the meaning of marriage. Our husband and wife remain content with the road they have chosen, however, their steadfast allegiance to one another never abating.
Everlasting love. The generations who championed a new society in the 1950s and '60s have come to appreciate what little constancy is to be found in an increasingly volatile universe. Rivera's play achieves its continuity through the device of having the same actors who play Flora's parents—the vigorous Sandra Marquez and René Rivera—also play the old Flora and Eusebio ( much as Mary Beth Fisher played two generations of mothers in the recent Rock And Roll, also at the Goodman ) , their transformation aided by the production team's expertise at period detail. Under the direction of Henry Godinez, the resulting romance speaks, literally, to audiences of all ages—its promise not that of a "happily ever after" ( conspicuously lacking instructions on how to attain that elusive goal ) , but of a bonding loyalty that ultimately proves more precious than any giddy youthful fantasy.