THEATER
Review | 'Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown' a riot of L.A. characters
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IF YOU GO
What: 'Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown' by Guillermo ReyesWhere: Sol Theatre Project, 1140 N. Flagler Dr., Fort LauderdaleWhen: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, through July 18Cost: $20 ($30 at door)Info: 954-801-9207 or www.soltheatre.comBY CHRISTINE DOLEN
cdolen@MiamiHerald.com
As swan songs go, Guillermo Reyes' Men on the Verge of a His-panic Breakdown is both a simple and affecting farewell from Fort Lauderdale's Sol Theatre Project. The company's founding partners, Robert Hooker and Tony Priddy, are moving, so it's likely that Reyes' solo show will be the last from Sol with its funky space and eclectic artistic history.
Actor Angel Perez, who creates five distinctive gay Latino characters in Men on the Verge, would probably argue that the solo show is anything but simple. Under Hooker's direction, the actor works up quite the sweat playing new immigrant Federico, a cast-out lover, a man damaged by a dad who was in the torture business, a gay restaurateur and a stressed-out English teacher.
But Perez, who was the dramatic anchor of the company's 2005 production of Trafficking in Broken Hearts, engagingly pulls it off.
The play's through-line is Federico's story: Sweet and a little wide-eyed, he has the bad luck of arriving in Los Angeles on the first day of the 1992 riots, which he takes to be the filming of a Lethal Weapon sequel. Ever the type to make lemonade out of limones, Federico joins the crowd emptying a furniture store -- a sign says ''Everything Must Go!'' -- and sets up his own little version of the American dream on a sidewalk.
Taking off Federico's cap and sleeveless shirt and plucking a shirt and shawl from hooks on the faux brick wall, Perez transforms himself into a West Hollywood 40-year-old being cast out by a far older sugar daddy. One more transformation, and he's a guy who lives way too close to the airport's runways, a man with impossible and scary expectations of potential roommates.
We hear again from Federico, who writes his beloved mama about his new love: a deaf, blond Barbra Streisand impersonator. The two have found temporary haven with a doctor, but it doesn't last beyond their benefactor's decision to run for office.
Donning a short-sleeved shirt and a straw hat and clutching a cigar, Perez becomes a Cuban restaurant owner ''exiled'' to Phoenix because of his family's embarrassment that he's gay. Then he's a cruelly (if humorously) dismissive teacher who denigrates his students' failure to learn proper English, though he takes time to lust after one of the guys in the class. Federico has the last word, a hilarious account of the circumstances surrounding his marriage and citizenship.
Men on Verge of a His-panic Breakdown is, by turns, warm, sad, funny and unsettling. Together, Perez and Hooker mine the piece for all its emotional colors.
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