Playwright: Nilo Cruz
At: Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Phone: ( 773 ) 871-3000; $35-$40
Runs through: Dec. 18
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
In 1959, communist-supporter Fidel Castro became ruler-dictator of Cuba. Soon after, thousands of children were evacuated to the United States by parents who feared for their future under this new regime. Nilo Cruz' play focuses on the uneasy reunion of two such exiled orphans in their native country thirty-five years later, a brother and sister both haunted by the events leading to their estrangement from one another. Ah, but in a small village deep in the island's interior, a self-styled sorceress is collecting reports of miracles—which she calls 'dreams', thus avoiding government harassment. Will the polytheistic gods of the Carib, and the faithful who serve them, bring peace to these lost children of Operation 'Pedro Pan'?
Playwright Cruz knows well the nostalgia that infects those who have traveled too far, too young. He is also no stranger to the enchantment engendered by the West Indies' equatorial climate and geographical isolation. This is, after all, the author who gave us the passion-drenched Anna In The Tropics and the incendiary Two Sisters And A Piano. Is there a writer living now who conveys more vividly the sense of magic and romance lurking in the sultry shadows, hinting at possibilities far removed from commonplace experience?
Of course, this seductive ambiance tends to retard our attention to the dry, cold-blooded expository facts, making for an appreciation of our story intuitive at best. Indeed, audience members seated in the wrong parts of the Victory Gardens' auditorium may miss salient plot points altogether. What is manifest from every vantage, however, is the atmosphere conjured by director Diane Rodriguez and her perfectly-selected actors.
Dominating the action is Cheryl Lynn Bruce as the stately Señora Hortensia, flanked by Joe Minoso and Christopher De Paola as her impishly charming sons. Marcela Munoz makes a winsome roller-skating siren, and Ricardo Gutierrez, a variety of mandatory heavies. At the center of it all are Alex Meneses and Ivan Vega as the fairy-tale innocents in search of sanctuary. Together, this ensemble—like the mysterious icons in Hortensia's household shrine, each one illuminating the other—engage our empathy with such sensual allure that we leave wanting to book the next flight to Havana.