Playwright: Octavio Solis. At: National Pastime Theater at the Preston Bradley Center, 941 W. Lawrence Ave. Tickets: 773-327-7077; www.nationalpastimetheater.com; $15-$25 . Runs through: Nov. 9
Our first sight is of Ceci Flores huddled on a floor mattress like a baby in a playpen. She suffers from brain damage, inflicted in an automobile accident two years earlier, on the eve of her quinceañera. Her family doesn't knowor doesn't want to knowhow she came to be hiding in the car occupied by her brother Rene and her cousin Alvaro when it crashed into a light post. Though we in the audience can hear the thoughts coursing through her active teenage mind, she is unable to convey them to the guilty survivorsat least not until the arrival of Lydia, the new housekeeper.
National Pastime Theater's newly reconfigured auditorium in Uptown's landmark Preston Bradley Arts Center boasts alley-style seating arrangement making for improved lighting and visibility, as well as a compact stage reducing the propensity of actors to become dwarfed by the cavernous room. Ceci's physical placement at the center of the stage picture draws attention to her rhapsodic soliloquies initially, but these soon give way to family strife: abusive papi Claudio immerses himself in a surly alcoholic isolation. Pious mama Rosa consoles herself with prayer. Angry Rene goes on gay-bashing prowls. Little brother Misha prefers writing poetry to playing football. Alvaro returned from Vietnam ( this is 1972 ), and now works as a guard in the border patrolemployment making him understandably unwelcome in this immigrant household.
After introducing his unhappy clan, Octavio Solis proceeds to slowly reveal the reasons behind their malaiserevelations facilitated by the clairvoyant Lydia acting as a medium for the wordless Ceci. Playgoers versed in classical tragedy will recognize the "evil in our hearts" that Mama Rosa's pastor warns her is the source of Ceci's affliction, as will LGBT-savvy playgoers, but classical tragedy also mandates liberation for victims through exorcism of festering secrets. In this case, no sooner is the truth exposed than it is swiftly suppressed by Rosa's banishment of all those complicit in its discovery.
It's not easy maintaining gravitas sufficient to prevent the action spinning out of control when emoting in telenovela proportions at a speed restricting the running time to a little over two hours ( with intermission ). Cecilie Keenan's precision-drilled ensemble possesses the verbal dexterity to render the story's disparate elements immediately comprehensible, as well as the disciplined stamina to keep the intensity flowing smoothly and seamlessly right up to a deliberately cynical ending reflecting the futility of resolution in a world defined by its unspoken confessions.