Theater Review: El Repertorio Is In An Insomnio Americano 2024
What I have always loved about El Repertorio, is that it elaborates the importance of representation. Sometimes, representation is over-simplified as an ¨us¨ just wanting to see themselves. Yet, the truth is we want to let our guard down. I see me in the mirror everyday, trust, I feel represented. Yet, there is something so enriching to having your experience shared by a room full of people that know how to laugh at the tears once shed. Salud Garcia´s EL INSOMNIO AMERICANO 2024 is a bright laugh until April 28. .
For decades, Saulo has created stand-up routines that have dominated the community and El Repertorio, but seeing him live felt like his success is not just based in laughter. There is a sweet amiability to Garcia´s demeanor that makes feel like the most harmless guy to be utterly charming. As he recounts some his experiences, you just want to say, ¨This GUY! Who would question THIS Guy!¨ He is superbly silly, friendly, and keeps an easy-going, high energy that broke the initial jitters of his very audience- inclusive show.
I love theater: both as a participant and critic. The grand irony of me is that for however much I can be on stage, being an audience participant ignites my anxiety. I can belt in front of one, but ¨¡God forbid!¨ I did Family Feud. Initially, it felt like the audience was the same, but Latinos can only be quiet for so long. From tossing his undies to serenading a man name Camarino, within 2 hours we were buddies with Saulo. Everyone felt understood by both him and his experiences because something happens to you, as an immigrant, that no really talks about. In calling two places home, you oddly feel homeless.
Like most immigrants, Saulo came for the ¨American Dream,¨ and found it exhausting; turns out it involves a lot of work, little pay, a complete fear of ¨la migra,¨ and a real hope that any health issue can be resolved with vix vapor rub or paid with bad credit. Of course, now a successful comedian and author, those times are the past. No longer is he breaking his back on a friend´s sofa or wondering why that friend does not pick up their cell when they SWORE to help him, which is why his plays are really about why you come in the first place. After all, even he marvels, how everyone arrives in the US with the dream of going back home.
Being an immigrant is a much harder, stressful experience than what he thought, but the difference between Colombia and the U.S. lied in the opportunity. Back home, you may have fun, but will you have a future… here…. you’ll have a future….. but will you have fun? For many, even in the audience, they came with the hopes of making enough money to live better and go back to their country, but such a feat takes decades, and what they found was that they all became Amercanized. Garcia laughs at how going back to Colombia made him want to come back to the U.S., especially with how even government officials wanted to extort him for money. Yet, he, like many of us, does not feel whole here either.
For so many Latinos, life feels like limbo, and our home is a bridge between two places, of which either can only be stayed in for a few months till we are ready to book a flight. While he spoke about criticisms he has gained for making fun of the U.S., he, ultimately, sees that the immigrant experience makes you see the good and bad of everywhere, and, if you are lucky, you get enough money and privilege to live anywhere.
