Playwrights: Teatro Luna ensemble
At: Teatro Luna at Chicago Dramatists
Phone: ( 773 ) 878-5862; $15
Runs through: Feb. 19
Sexo is how one says 'sex' in Spanish. It's also a refrain ( since 'Oh!' is probably the word uttered most often during sexual encounters, good, bad, and in-between ) and it's also the sensuous come-on given to this revue by five sparkling Latina performers.
This trip into sex, Latin style, opens with a bare stage. On it are huge photographs of each of the performers blown up to life size. All are nude and all have been decorated with graffiti that smartly detail the likes and dislikes of each woman when it comes to her body parts. ( Likely targets include too-small breasts, too-big butts and scars ) . The posters are arresting, visual ways to introduce the ensemble. When they emerge, we already feel as if we know them. The zippy 90 minutes of this revue fly by because the ensemble has deftly paced the show, beginning with its opening, which is a syncopatic paean to sex and body parts, punctuated with a resounding litany of 'ohs,' eloquently expressing everything from extreme pleasure to extreme agony.
And the show runs the gamut from these two arenas. Most of it is upbeat and funny, and you'd be hard-pressed not to laugh at the curses experienced by some of the cast, such as a visitation of 'piojos' ( crab lice ) and the loss of a condom in a very distressing place. You'll also laugh when four of the Latinas here tell us exactly what makes them hot; pens may seem marginally on target because we assume each of the cast is acquainted with the intimate act of writing and because of the phallic symbolism. Likewise with videogames, if only because they are controlled by 'joy sticks.' But when the final two of the quarter explain how biblical stories and Trader Joe's make them hot, you're treading on some pretty revelatory and surprising ground that inspires a kind of awed guffaw.
One of the highlights of the show is Tanya Saracho in an ongoing bit about the life of a phone sex operator. Saracho not only is hilarious when she explains her characters ( Carla with the BIG, BROWN nipples is a special, Spanish-accented favorite among clients ) , but also gives us a very sympathetic and disturbing glance into what life must be like for those engaged in this offbeat profession ( her school girl character veers off into some very disturbing revelations about phone pedophilia ) .
The show is wise in that it doesn't just lie fallow in its depictions of sex. Although Latina-centered, what happens on stage is pretty universal. When a cast member agonizes over an abortion ( and concentrates on eighties pop music hits translated into Spanish to keep her mind off what's about to occur ) , we agonize with her. And when a child victim of molestation is taunted by her neighborhood for being a slut, we ache.
This is my first Teatro Luna show, and if this is any indicator of the quality of their work, I hope it won't be the last. If any of them want to know if it was good for me, the answer is a resounding 'si!'
