Minimal stage setting brings age, cultural gaps to forefront

October 26, 2009 —

“I didn’t think you’d forgotten your own country!”

So says Elena (Caitlyn Walsh) to her teenage daughter Maggie (Danielle Schoeny) early in Maggie Magalita, performed Saturday in the Black Box Theater.

The play, a co-presentation of the Theater Department and Student Minority Services, was a culmination of Hispanic Heritage Month activities.

Maggie tells the story of three generations of independent Latina women living together in New York who must learn to understand each other to preserve their family — and their sanity.

The four-person cast was excellent, including Cameron Thorp as Maggie’s romantic interest and Rose San Miguel as Abuela.

Maggie is a teenager who immigrated to America at a young age and has begun to forget her heritage.

More than anything she wants to blend in with her peers, forsaking Latin music and food for Top 40 pop and Big Macs.

That all changes when her old-country grandmother moves in, a headstrong woman who speaks only Spanish and has little interest in adapting her ways. Maggie and Abuela clash over the smallest cultural differences, from board games to TV shows.

But language is the most unavoidable symbol of “foreign” culture for Maggie, and the one she most passionately rejects.

Whenever Abuela opens her mouth, Maggie feels her American identity — and her chances with Eric — are threatened.

“I did not come to this country to speak Spanish!” Maggie bellows to her mother, a woman caught in the difficult position of being peacemaker between Maggie’s teenage mood swings and Abuela’s sly stodginess.

The Black Box Theater proved the perfect venue for the production.

Its intimacy amplifyied the themes of family life and making the audience feel a part of the setting, a cramped studio apartment.

The minimal set design, consisting of a table and chairs, a plant and a bed, was a wise decision of director Ric Roberts that kept the audience’s attention entirely focused on the actors and the world they created with their realistic performances.

The witty writing, a deft blend of comedy and pathos, came alive in the heartfelt performances, particularly Schoeny’s.

As the title character, she had more room to showcase a range of skills, swinging from insecurity and petulance, to frantic sadness, to a quiet joy while dancing alone.

Tears came to many eyes, including mine, when Schoeny’s Maggie and her Abuela finally connect with each other at the climax of the play.

“I haven’t forgotten anything,” says Maggie tenderly. “And I never will.”