Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents: LAUGHS IN SPANISH

The cast of LAUGHS IN SPANISH by Alexis Scheer, through October 8, 2023 with the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Photos by Michael Brosilow.

By Mary Boyle

This past year, the Milwaukee theatre scene came dangerously close to losing the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, a company that is now entering its 49th season and that fills a certain niche among the live theatre companies.  Thankfully, the community rallied, and MCT is back to doing what it does best: producing both classics that are not often produced, such as last season's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, to brand new productions by emerging playwrights that push the boundaries of theatre, such as their 2023-24 Season opener, LAUGHS IN SPANISH.

Written by Alexis Scheer and directed by Anna Skidis Vargas, Laughs in Spanish is a modern look at the relationship between a mother and daughter, but interestingly set in Miami amongst the unique culture of the "pero pura Latina" (half-Columbian and half-Jewish).  While the setting makes the play quite specific, already, the story makes it even more so.  We meet Mariana (Isa Condo-Olvera), a trendy art gallery owner in an up and coming neighborhood in Miami, who is preparing for an Art Basel opening featuring the work of a well known artist.  Unfortunately, the art is missing and, as if that wasn't enough trouble enough, her mother, Estella (Rána Roman), has picked this most unfortunate moment to pay a visit, dragging her personal assistand, Jenny (Jenna Bonofiglio), with her.  Mariana's intern, an art student by the name of Carolina (Ashley Oviedo), sees this as a golden opportunity to show her own work and put her name on the map.  With any luck, her boyfriend Juan (Arash Fakhrabadi), a newbie police officer, won't have any luck finding the artwork before Carolina can take her chance.

One of the things that makes MCT great is their committment to hiring local actors, and Rána Roman is about as local as it gets. Seen last season as Eva Perón in Skylight Theatre's production of EVITA, Roman is an incredibly talented actor who is frequently seen on stages all over Wisconsin and who also happens to be a graduate of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts.  Ashley Oviedo is a UWM Peck School of the Arts graduate who was seen in last season's HOOPS at MCT, as well as in AIRNESS with Forward Theater Co. in Madison, among other area stages.  Jenna Bonofiglio, another Milwaukee-based actor, was fabulous last season in NOISES OFF with Skylight.  All three give an admirable performance in this production, as do Condo-Olvera and Fakhrabadi, who make their MCT debuts, but even great actors could not save this play from a terrible case of bad writing.

To me, it seems as though the playwright had a list of boxes they wanted to check and then tried to write a play around them: Mixed Latino culture - check; Miami art scene - check; healing the mother-daughter wounds - check; a lesbian relationship - check; wanting traditional family values inside an untraditional relationship - check.  The characters are simply not believable, though the actors try so hard to make them so, and it all comes off as trying too hard to make the story cohesive, relatable, and realistic.  Is there a such thing as being too woke?  Because that's what this play is.

There is one line by Estella that resonates: "...that's what moms do.  We ruin our daughters with our good intentions."  Those words are what the director grabbed onto, and though the sentiment is a worthy one, it wasn't enough to carry the whole play.  And yet, I can see why MCT chose it for their season: it represents a minority culture; it represents normalizing the LGBTQ community; it represents healing, empathy, and forgiveness in our relationships.  These are boxes that we absolutely want to be checked, I just wish that the story that contained those ideals was one that would move audiences to adopt those ideals.  Alas, it was not this story; nevertheless, I give MCT kudos for trying.

LAUGHS IN SPANISH runs through October 8th at the Broadway Theatre Center, located at 158 N. Broadway Street in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.  Tickets may be purchased by calling the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre Box Office at (414) 291-7800 or online at https://www.milwaukeechambertheatre.org/​.  There is an ASL-Interpretation at the Friday, October 6th performance at 7:30 p.m.; call the box office to purchase tickets in the reserved section.

​About Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Founded in 1975 by Montgomery Davis and Ruth Schudson, guided until 2020 by Michael Wright and Kirsten Finn, and now led by Brent Hazelton, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) partners with other arts organizations, community-based organizations and universities to produce thought-provoking productions and innovative outreach programs on an intimate, human scale.  As a leader in developing Milwaukee and Wisconsin’s theater community, MCT provides regular employment and a stable artistic home to local theatre professionals through a five-play subscription season, the Young Playwrights Festival (YPF), and the Montgomery Davis Play Development Series (MDPDS).  MCT performs at the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward and is a proud Member Group of the United Performing Arts Fund.