Theatre Review: Eva Luna Shines Over Female Strength

Isabelle Allende is one of the greatest Latina writers of all time. She has an ability to create novelas that are grounded in human pain and pleasure yet feel so surreal in turmoil and trials that her characters become more mythic than human. In a way, she understands that, for Latinos, part of our attraction to telenovelas is that we would love for our own individual trials and communal traumas to become legend: a mythos of the past that people admire as fuel for the future. In essence, pain heals through the stories we build from them, and this is the perspective that Reperorio Espanol’s newest production understood and gorgeously embodied. 

Let’s be honest! People change their stories. We all have memories that we constantly relive and, each time, a different detail is added, lost, or analyzed to understand how life turned out the way it did. Andrea Velasco as the titular character is a marvel. She mesmerizes with a performance that combines a spiritual naivety with a natural perceptiveness; turning Eva into the kindest person to perceive the world is not so kind. For many, intuition is born on the grave innocence; a soulful replacement for a cruel epiphany that not everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt. For the play, Velasco  becomes the audience’s emotional anchor as her character must consistently learn that even thought people leave your life, you should never leave you. 

Beautifully adapted by Cynthia Cvich and perfectly directed by Estefania Fadul, with such  powerhouse leads for a powerful story, a strong cast is vital. Eva Luna runs into so many characters that betray and build her, a group of great actors is necessary and everyone delivers. Zulema Clares is so hilarious as La Señora, the head of a brothel, and is absolutely heartbreaking as Zulema, a depressed housewife. She plays, at least, four roles, and embodies an ironic truth; so many people that enter our lives feel like the same person with a different face. 

In life, It is as if we meet the same people with the same purpose for us. Zulema’s characters always took in Eva, and so did Fernando Vieira as Mimi. Their impactful role becomes a standout in music, zest, and hope that our painful past does not mean an equally painful future. 

Gonzalo Trigueros’ is wonderful as both Kamal and Humberto Naranjo, Eva’s first friend. He, like Pablo Andrade’s Rolfe, become symbols of how war and genocide turn men into activists and soldiers: defending human being while never feeling like they can live as one. Meanwhile, Belange Rodríguez’s consistent role as a guide in Eva’s life, when either playing her mother a fellow maid, is so warm and strong. They all round out a cast that makes this show memorable. 

There are so many great plays, but memorable and impactful are two separate energies. Eva Luna imprints on your mind as much as it entertains. You walk away from it feeling like you saw something that will stay with you like, a myth.