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Bob Anthony, by Bob Anthony

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Rich Massabny, by Rich Massabny

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Arlington Connection Espanol or in English, Teatro Delivers a Gentle Treat

Uruguayan Play "Rifar el Corazón" ("Heartstrings")

Arlington’s Teatro de la Luna is offering a gentle comedy/drama from Uruguay at the Gunston Arts Center’s Theatre Two. It is presented, as most of Teatro’s plays are, in Spanish with English surtitles projected above the playing space. This means that the show is instantly accessible for the Spanish speaking portion of our community. That is a community which is served by two professional Spanish language companies (the other being GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington). It also makes the theatrical literature of the majority of the Americas accessible to our English speakers who can read along with only slightly more effort than watching and listening to a play in their native tongue. "Rifar el Corazón" ("Heartstrings" in English) is a warm drama with plenty of humor by Dino Armas, an award-winning and highly prolific playwright from Montevideo. It is directed with simple, straightforward honesty by Teatro de la Luna’s Artistic Director, Mario Marcel on a simple but efficient set of his own design. Most of the play takes place center-stage at a dinning room table where two sisters share thoughts, memories and barbs over tea or the ubiquitous South American beverage mate, which is sipped through a metal straw from a gourd. Two spaces to the sides are draped with thin fabric which lets the audience see flashback scenes that fill out the plot between sisterly reminiscences. These reminiscences bring to light the reasons that underlie the tensions between the sisters, the near catatonic state of the daughter of the older sister. She has neither spoken nor stood since she underwent an abortion following an affair her mother may well have opposed. The story of the affair, the abortion and the reaction comes out in a cascade of details as the sisters recall bits and pieces of their past. While it is a three-woman show, one woman sets the tone. She’s Nucky Walder, a Teatro de la Luna regular and its producer. Her comfort level on stage is such that she carries the evening on her shoulders. As the older sister, the one who has spent her later life caring for her wheelchair-bound daughter, she sets the pace of the conversation and it is her transitions from lighthearted banter to defensive retorts and from exasperated rejoinders to reluctant regrets that make the show much more than just a verbal contest between sisters. The other sister is played by Marycarmen Wila with a smooth, pleasant presence. Yovinca Arredondo Justiniano is fully up to the more challenging task of portraying the daughter both in the current moment in her wheelchair, and in the flashbacks, as a love-struck and vital young girl. A very important element in Marcel’s staging is the presence of a fourth performer, Alex Alburqueque who sits at a piano on one side of the stage and sings soulful songs before each act and between each scene. His smooth delivery is appropriately devoid of flashy embellishments, allowing the simple beauty of the songs to linger in the hall. Unfortunately, the lyrics of the songs are not translated into English for display on the surtitle screen. Reading and following simultaneously does take a bit more concentration than simply watching, but the experience soon becomes nearly second nature. The English translations of the Spanish text of the play are best viewed from the seats higher up in the rows where the eyes can follow both text and action without English speakers having to keep moving their heads up and down with each line of dialogue. Spanish speaking audience members, on the other hand, would do better to sit lower down where they may not even notice the surtitle board once the action gets going. Either way, the play provides a gentle pleasure.

Bob Anthony Drama and Dance Nucky Walder reigns over the production of "HEARTSTRINGS" at Teatro de la Luna (To 5/29) which is a warm domestic comedy headed for tragedy that almost always tugs at one's heartstrings as two sisters bicker yet cajole each other about one's daughter who has turned into a mute, phyical wreck presumably around the time of her abortion. There are "spiritual" scenes as the daughter (movingly played by Yovinca Arredondo Justiniano), during flashback normality, monologues about her pre-abortion days of love and passion and concerns. Marycarmen Wila plays the other sister/aunt, Silvana, but she is too toned down during the verbal conflict scenes so Ms. Walder had to handle the emotional builds on her own and she does so most effectively. She also provides the greater part of the humor in the script. Playwright Dino Armas provides a beautifully-drawn script which is good family fare and gets one to reconsider the constant intrusion by the media of unnatural sex in what were most peoples' previous and desireable romantic lives. Such poignant romantic life is played and sung about by Alex Alburqueque at a side piano. The play is finely directed by Mario Marcel who also provides a comfortable and old-fashioned dining room set to add to the play's themes of past reverie. Ayun Fedorcha again gives very sensitive lighting especially for the memory scenes. This is a highly recommended family play that gives some powerful messages about the mores of our society and current family life. Again a reminder that the play is in Spanish but there are English surtitles throughout. (Reviewed by Bob Anthony) DC Theatre Scene Washington’s Liveliest Theatre Website Heartstrings / Rifar el Corazon We’ve all been through hellish family reunions so we can relate to Dino Armas’ character-driven, black comedy about two sisters, one a mother, and her disabled daughter. In Teatro de la Luna’s 2004 International Festival of Hispanic Theatre, the Uruguayan Heartstrings won enough praise to inspire artistic director Mario Marcel to revive it in 2010. Playwright Dino Armas, a prolific writer of over 30 plays in Spanish, has won many awards, including the Florencio, the equivalent to Broadway’s Tony Award. Marcel, who directs, adds his own all-embracing flair to this beautiful play by reinforcing the Teatro de la Luna company’s clear-intentioned, good solid acting, with familiar Spanish ballads—known as boleros in Uruguay - sung cabaret-style by baritone Alex Alburqueque, in a spotlight. The overall impact is hypnotic entertainment and well worth experiencing. Read more