In “Divorciadas, Evangelicas y Vegetarianas,” (“Divorcees, Evangelists & Vegetarians”) at GALA Hispanic Theatre, Venezuelan playwright Gustavo Ott’s comedy is fast, furious and unpredictable. It flirts with the nonsensical, then scurries back to the comfort of comprehensibility, all in the blink of an eye. The play begins with a meeting between two strangers, Gloria (Menchu Esteban) and Beatriz (Monalisa Arias) on a subway platform in New York City.
| Onstage |
| ‘Divorciadas, Evangelicas y Vegetarianas’ |
| Where: GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW |
| When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through May 1 |
| Info: $32 to $36; 800-494-8497; galatheatre.org |
Gloria doesn’t really speak. Instead, she spins out long, unbroken streams of consciousness, primarily beating up on the man who has just jilted her, her married lover who always goes back to his wife. We learn that she became a vegetarian when she began dating him. Gloria is ditzy and distracted throughout her initial monologue, calling Beatriz by a different name every time she addresses her.
It’s hard to get a fix on Beatriz, because Gloria doesn’t let her get a word in edgewise. She has spent the day shopping, as Beatriz has. Eventually Beatriz tells Gloria that she is a romantic, loves the movies and escaping reality, adores the Beatles, and that she is divorced. She also tells her that she is ready to stop living.
One of the most intriguing things about Ott’s writing is the way he reveals the truth about his characters. Gloria assumes, for instance, that Beatriz’s husband has left her. Not until the second act does Beatriz declare that she left him. And that kind of upset of expectations happens again and again throughout “Divorciadas.”
In the second scene of the first act, Gloria and Beatriz have met at a movie theater to see Gloria’s favorite film, the erotic “9 ? Weeks,” which she goes to see incessantly. While there, they meet a friend of Gloria’s, Meche (Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey), who is an usher at the movie theater.
The conversation in this part of the play, between Gloria and Meche, is designed to illuminate Meche’s devotion to the church, her belief in the power of God and in her life as an evangelist. She also reveals the feelings of lust, envy and desire that haunt her. For most of the act, Beatriz is off getting popcorn. By the end of Act I, Ott has established three women in states of serious nervous and emotional distress.
In director Abel Lopez’s capable hands, “Divorciadas” moves at the speed of light, which is the only way it can work, as the play depends largely on the belief that Gloria is propelled by sheer manic energy, cranked up to an unbearable level. Skillfully directing his extremely talented actresses, Lopez propels his characters toward Ott’s refreshingly positive ending, as his women take charge of their lives and find camaraderie in each others’ friendship.
