Raven
Snook

March 24, 2014

A coming-of-age romance, political debate, dysfunctional family drama and ghost story all rolled into one, José Rivera’s jam-packed play may not be every theatergoer’s cup of Bustelo. But his characters are so vibrant and their exchanges so poetic (and often profane), it’s hard not to get swept up in their searing saga. Working in his preferred magical-realist style, the two-time Obie winner explores the concept of divides—cultural, linguistic, generational and ideological.

Claudia La
Rocco

March 24, 2014

Woe to the surly, cheaply dressed teenagers of American arts and letters: One after another, these broadly drawn characters are shipped off to remote relatives, the better to find themselves anew. So it is with Vanessa (Carmen Zilles), the 17-year-old heroine of José Rivera’s Adoration of the Old Woman, directed by Patricia McGregor at Intar. She is sent to Puerto Rico to live with her great-grandmother Doña Belen (a bracingly salty Socorro Santiago). After the required rocky start, the two get on like gangbusters.

The Public Reviews

Jamie
Rosler

March 24, 2014

A hot summer night in Puerto Rico, the not too distant future. A small house with two occupants who clearly do not get along. Doña Belen—played wonderfully by Socorro Santiago—allegedly between 100 and 150 years old, is verbally accosted by Adoración—played quite strongly by Danielle Davenport—who turns out to be the ghost of her husband’s mistress, haunting her bed every night. In a very intense opening scene, we are confronted with sexuality, blasphemy, war, death, Christianity, Puerto Rican history, and the wounded strength of the title characters. Beautifully and easily transitioning into the next scene—thanks in no small part to the lighting design of Miguel Angel Valderrama, the sound design of Luqman Brown, and the set design of Ryan Howell—we meet Vanessa, played competently if unevenly by Carmen Zilles. As the North American great-granddaughter of Doña Belen, Vanessa has been sent to Puerto Rico for an as-yet-unnamed reason and the culture clash is immediate.

Gay City News

Christopher
Byrne

March 24, 2014

The rough poetry of José Rivera’s Adoration of the Old Woman leaps off the page. Combining the lyricism of Frederico García Lorca, the magical realism of Gabriel García Marquez, and the profanity of David Mamet, the play, set in Puerto Rico in the near future, is ostensibly about the conflict between independence and statehood, the loss of identity and heritage versus a new identity and larger opportunity. It is also a metaphor for finding one’s individual sense of self in the context of a community and a culture. The play is getting a major production by Intar, the New York company that for the past 40 years has championed Latino artists and voices and diversity and become a home and launching point for many Latino artists.

March 25, 2014