ELIZABETH RAMOS AS LUCIA PHOTO BY LANNY NAGLER
What would you do if you were hired for a job you really didn't want and felt you were unqualified to do? How would you feel if you discovered after the fact that you only got the position because you filled the minority hiring quota? Come ask Lucia, the insecure new writer at a high powered TV station in Los Angeles who does not know if she is there as a glorified coffee girl or to punch up the characters on a new and potent Latino drama.
Come take a journey of discovery with Lucia in a new play by Tanya Saracho "FADE" at Hartford TheaterWorks until Friday, June 30 and learn with her how her Mexican heritage, her values and principles can get lost in a maze of compromises.
Elizabeth Ramos' Lucia is eager to find a place for herself in this new alien world of television. She finds herself in Los Angeles, amidst the sun and palm trees, when she really wants to be back in Chicago where she successfully wrote her first novel. Like a burrito without a wrapper, she is struggling to establish herself but is finding resistance from her rich, American white boss and the whole team of writers. Where does she fit in or does she?
The only one to offer even a modicum of concern and a tentative hand of welcome is the office's custodian, also sharing her heritage. Their immigrant backgrounds are quite different as are their current situations, yet they manage to find some shaky common ground. Eddie Martinez's Abel is willing to share a pizza and beer and talk Lucia off her literal dangerous perch where she is in fear of falling.
How his real life story becomes her fictional television script is one of betrayal, whether innocent or intentional, is for you the viewer to decide. These two actors quickly capture our interest as they become confidants and learn to trust. Jerry Ruiz directs this slowly building trap of opportunity and advancement trumping friendship.
For tickets ($40-65), call TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street, Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online atwww.theaterworkshartford.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm, with extra 6:30 p.m. Sunday show June 25.
Class and culture clash, with ambition winning the war, as Lucia and Abel forge a relationship that, ultimately, does not stand up to the test.
PHOTO BY LANNY NAGLER
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