Luz

Overall I give this play 4 out of 5 stars.

The Actors. There was an uneven spread of talent between the actors. The head of the law firm underwent a lot of character development in a short time an had to show many sides of himself, which he did skillfully. Luz herself was very convincing, especially when she screamed at her interrogator, and she did an accurate Guatemalan accent (my neighbors had a Guatemalan nanny). Alexandra played the part of a normally reserved person who is emotionally involved very well, sounding exactly like my introverted friend when she tells over a sad story- not all people are dramatic in their sadness, which was one of the main criticisms I heard about her and that I consider unfair. The Haitian woman had a lot of difficult physical acting to do, like dragging her friend out from under he table, giving birth, and dying, which she made appear realistic. Jesus/Alexandra’s coworker played his parts in a very one-dimensional way. The environmental activist/Haitian policeman was more convincing as an activist than as policeman, because his yelling didn’t have force behind it, but as an activist he was sort of bland with no sense of the “why” that all characters in a story need. Alexandra’s first case was also sort of “blah” as an actor.

The Plot. I found it overstuffed, like the playwright was trying to address too many issues in too short a time. The connection between the 2 stories was weak at best. If you think of it as 2 separate plays, one about rape and one about soulless corporations destroying the world through pollution, then it starts to make more sense.

The Scenery. Very good. The background of paperwork worked beautifully for the Guatemala City dump and for the law firm, because both of these environments are very cluttered. The boxes added a perception of depth by seeming to extend backwards forever, and help to illustrate how much work goes into getting just one person into this country.The table centered the stage and worked well with every scene. The white rug under the table also helped with focusing on the sage and gave the lighting something to bounce off of. The lighting added to the mood of whatever was going on.

The Puppet. A dramatic and original idea. It also brought out the symbolism of birds, which is mentioned throughout the play, so it kind of tied things together a little bit.