Stage Review - Laughs in Spanish (Seattle Rep)

Stage Review - Laughs in Spanish
Presented By: Seattle Rep - Seattle, WA
Show Run: April 17 - May 17, 2025
Date Reviewed: Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (Opening Night)
Run Time: 90 Minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

I find it increasingly interesting, the patterns that develop over time in storytelling, the kinds of stories that are told and whom they’re told about. It seems as though, especially as writers look to produce work with more diverse characters and settings, that these groups have attributes that they get stuck with, regardless of whether or not they’ve been able to transcend them in the “real world”. Take, for instance, the idea of success. In traditional media, movies, TV, and even the stage, and likely because of the way that our society has been inherently structured for so long, stories of successful people have typically centered on, and been portrayed by white, mostly male, actors. Minority groups, and people of color, typically have stories told about them that involve the pursuit of success, or the overcoming of obstacles to reach a certain level of achievement, but rarely are characters in these demographics portrayed as successful from the outset, nor are stories told about them having to deal with the cost of that success, or the implications of rising to a level of advancement in and of itself without taking their race into consideration. Playwright Alexis Scheer aims to change that, and with her play Laughs in Spanish, which is running on stage at Seattle Rep’s Bagley Wright Theater through May 17, she has done just that. It’s a play that portrays a mother and daughter, both of Cuban descent, and both successful in their own right, mother Estella a TV and film star, and daughter Mariana the manager and curator of an art gallery in Miami, each having had to give up something to get where they are, Estella time with her daughter, Mariana any semblance of a social life, but when a robbery takes place the night before Mariana’s biggest opening and her mother comes to town, she thinks, to help, the pair are forced to come to terms with their sacrifices and learn to discover each other in the current phases in their lives, to try and build something out of their relationship before it’s too late. Laughs in Spanish is a story about mothers and daughters, and it’s about price we pay for our visions of success, but it’s also about reconciliation, and to what extent we’ll go for love.

The play is another winner in this excellent season from The Rep’s Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez, who happens also to be the director of Laughs in Spanish. It’s another piece that breaks a mold, in that it doesn’t portray these Latina and Latino characters with any sort of stereotype, which is extremely refreshing. Alexis Scheer has written it with a good deal of intelligence as well. It’s funny, it has heart, and it’s got culture, much of that coming from the way Spanish is mixed in with the English in the dialogue, Spanglish, if you will. Now, there’s a balance here when a writer mixes languages like this, too much of the secondary language, in this case Spanish, and it can confuse the audience, or make their heads spin. Each time a word in a different language is presented on stage, there’s a bit of context switching that the brain has to go through, an identification of the other language and then an attempt at translation. Too much of this and it becomes work, just enough and the dialogue remains impactful, regardless of whether or not any particular audience member understands Spanish or not. Here, Alexis walks that line just about as good as she can. She’s also created a group of characters who are relatable to just about everyone, there’s a humanity about them that the audience can empathize with, while not taking away any of their individual cultural identity or integrity. This is a story with well constructed characters, excellent messaging, and dialogue that feels natural, all wrapped up in a storyline that is engaging and, quite frankly, fun.

That story involves the aforementioned heist, on the eve of Mariana’s biggest opening yet, her gallery’s exhibit for famous artist Marco Diaz. The opening was her chance to bring in big spenders from the Miami area and beyond, but with the walls empty, she feels her dream is about to go up in smoke, not to mention the question of what she will tell the artist. As the show opens, she is discussing the matter with a Miami policeman Juan, and her intern Carolina, or “Caro” as she is better known. As Caro was the last to leave the gallery the night before, Mariana insists that it must be she that is at fault somehow, but Juan insists that it can’t have anything to do with the intern, after all she has an alibi…..him. Juan and Caro are an item, and it turns out she was with him last night, plus there is evidence that she properly locked up the building. But without any art on the walls, how will Mariana continue with her opening? Being the good hearted and loyal boyfriend, Juan sees this as an opportunity; they all know that Caro is an artist as well, and perhaps now is the time for Caro to be given the chance to show her art. He believes in her, he’s confident others will too, and after some time, and a bit of cajoling, Mariana finally relents. Everything seems to be working out, that is until Mariana’s mother Estella walks in the front door of the gallery. She’s there to help, or so she says, but as with each character in Laughs in Spanish, she may not be completely above board with everything. Add to the mix Estella’s assistant Jenny, and Mariana’s world is completely turned upside down; the two had been friends in school and unbeknownst to either, they both had feelings for each other, feelings which don’t seem to have faded over the years. Laughs in Spanish feels a bit like a Telenovela, one of those over-dramatized Latin American soap operas, but to characterize this play as just that wouldn’t be giving it nearly enough credit. The humor is smarter, the dialogue richer, and the overall story and its messaging deeper.

Additionally, when there’s a connection between a playwright and the place or people she’s writing about, or a director and the place or people he’s telling a story about, there’s a deeper understanding that they have emotionally, physically, and philosophically, a perspective that’s hard to get if one isn’t from that particular place, and that shows in this story, having both Alexis and Dámaso being Miami natives. There’s an inherent and deeper knowledge about Miami that they both have about their hometown and that comes across in this presentation of Laughs in Spanish, both in the way Alexis has written it and in the vision that Dámaso presents for the play on stage. It’s a flair that is stitched through the piece and weaved through the design. The set, designed by Sara C. Walsh, is the interior of Mariana’s gallery, cash wrap to stage right, entryway door upstage center, and a “Staff Only” door more stage left in comparison to the entryway. Beyond that, the white wall of the gallery, where Marco Diaz’s paintings should be hanging, winds to where one can only assume is the rear area of the building, the second door that Caro locked on her way out the night before, the night of the robbery. It’s a practical design, simplistically presented at first, but when one of the gallery walls pulls back during a scene change to reveal a police car set piece that’s used by Juan first when he’s driving Caro, a drive that includes an hilariously timed confessional conversation between Gabriell Salgado as Juan and Diana Garle as Caro, and later as Juan and Diana Burbano’s Estella lean against the trunk to have their own heart to heart conversation, it represents the first, but not the biggest surprise of the show in regards to the set. That is saved for what is behind the “Staff Only” door I mentioned earlier, which it turns out is the entrance to the patio area of the gallery. At first, when the door opens, the audience gets a quick peek inside, but it’s when the larger of the gallery walls lifts and the patio in all of its splendor appears that is the true “wow” moment of the play. The patio looks almost tropical, with its bar and lavish green decor, but the way it contrasts with the stark whiteness of the gallery itself is what makes it such a standout piece, festive compared to the gallery’s seriousness and the best place for the group to go after a successful show opening.

What makes this play for me, though, is the characters, and the actors who play them. I like police officer Juan, his good heart, and his love for Carolina. And I love the way that Gabriell Salgado plays him. The delivery of his dialogue is perfectly paced for the amount of humor he brings to Juan, the way he nervously talks when he’s trying to cover something up that he should probably be a little more honest about, and the way he admires Estella, especially when they first meet. Estella herself is a wonderful caricature of a self-centered actor, and that celebrity aloofness and energy that Diana Burbano plays her with is on point, there’s a bit of that naïveté that she brings from her character not living in the real world, a lack of perspective from existing in a Hollywood bubble. Again, there’s a lot of humor with this character, but when she and Mariana, played by Beth Pollack, put the humor to the side and begin to work on their relationship a bit, Diana shows her range in being able to deliver a maternal and more serious side of her character. Mariana herself, as the lead here, is around whom much of the story revolves. It’s her gallery, it’s her crisis that everyone else is trying to help deal with, and it’s ultimately her relationships that are the ones that need to find their way, first with her mother, and also with old friend Jenny, played by Cheyenne Barton. There is so much emotion that Beth brings to her Mariana, the anger and frustration upon finding out that her gallery opening has probably been ruined, the intensity when challenging her mother for abandoning her in favor of her stardom, the tenderness in the rekindling of her relationship with Jenny, and the joy that comes with reconciliation. They’re all so wonderfully portrayed here, but her work is not without its humor either, though it might be a little more subtle, like how she generally speaks with a bit of an accent, until she picks up the phone, then the accent drops and she sounds like the “perfect professional American”. Meanwhile intern Caro, Diana Garle, is another fun one to watch, especially as her confidence builds in herself, from the beginning of the play when she is portrayed as someone who is a bumbler around the gallery, especially when she’s initially accused by Mariana, and is afraid to stand up to Mariana, then later when she’s more willing to defend her ability and her art, with a little help from the support that Juan gives her no doubt. Caro is also faced with the biggest dilemma of the group, an important life decision that may impact her dream of becoming an artist, just when she’s at the cusp of attaining a new level of visibility with this show opening. This will cause her to lean on Juan even more, and it also shows how good Diana is with her character at presenting this conflict and how good Gabriell is at showing Juan’s good hearted nature. They’re all so good together as well, though many of the conversations have the actors and their characters pairing off, but when they are together, it feels seamless, like they are one family together, each line of dialogue delivered with impeccable timing, never waiting for another to finish, but rather naturally transitioning in conversation from one to the other. And this includes the final member of this group, Cheyenne’s Jenny who, as Estella’s assistant and Mariana’s friend, and perhaps more, is seemingly caught in the middle. Jenny is an important character in the telling of this story, she’s Estella’s voice of reason, and Mariana’s impetus to look for something beyond her work, and I like the energy that Cheyenne brings here, there’s a lightness to their characterization, a friendliness to Jenny’s personality that makes her ultimately very likable, but then again, there’s nobody in Laughs in Spanish that isn’t unlikeable, regardless of what they do, because it’s about why they do it.

In addition to their acting ability, this group also has some moves, which they display between scenes, breaking into dance, in pairings, smaller groups, or as the complete ensemble. Vanessa Villalobos is the choreographer and being a native of Peru, she has clearly infused some of her own cultural influence into the steps she designed for the group, which are also a large part of the company’s bows. They also look good, and credit for that goes to costume designer Danielle Nieves. Each of the characters has two costumes for the story, one for the time before the gallery opening, and a more formal one for the event. I like how the changes are done in the play, that not everyone changes at once, first Mariana gets her new outfit, after her mother arrives and takes her shopping, then it’s one at a time after that until finally everyone is changed into their formal wear, and they’re just exquisite. They’re colorful and while they’re “dressy”, they appear comfortable, though I’m not sure about the shoes Diana wears for the gallery opening as Caro. Don’t get me wrong, I love the design of them, they’re unique and flashy, but only she can speak to their comfort. What’s also nice about the design of the costuming is how well it goes with that of the patio area, they seem to fit right in to the overall motif, the hallmark of a good scenic design, when all of the pieces flow together like they do here. Rounding out this superb design team is Robert Aguilar and his standard level of excellence when it comes to lighting design and Rodolfo Ortega and his sound design.

When Alexis Scheer set out to write Laughs in Spanish, she intended to write about the cost of success, what we each give up in order to attain a level of achievement in our lives, and in doing so, she also wanted to portray characters of Cuban and Colombian descent in roles and situations that deviate from heretofore stereotypical depictions. The result is a story that is also about family, specifically mothers and daughters, about regret, forgiveness, and reconciliation, what extent we will go to for the ones we love, and the hard choices we have to make in life. The play is funny, tense, joyful, and smartly written, it’s got the feel of a telenovela, but with a deeper sensibility. Combine that with a scenic design that works and an experienced and extremely talented cast, and Dámaso Rodriguez has yet another winner on his hands.

Laughs in Spanish runs on the Bagley Wright Theater stage at Seattle Rep through May 17. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.seattlerep.org/.

Photo credit: Bronwen Houck, Sayed Alamy