Theater Review: La Llamada Picks Up The Call At Repertorio
La Llamada, playing at the Reportorio until December 8, uses the discography of God´s Voice, Whitney Houston, to discuss what it really means to be called by our Lord and Savior. When two young women go to a convent/ camp for the summer: both have two very different awakenings. One falls in love with a nun while the other falls for God.
I swear that being a teenage girl is hard, in part, because the world seems to have an opinion on your development. It is, literally, national news the rights you have to your body. With the overarching, societal pressure to be saints looming over them, Lara Panini´s Susana and Jennyvette Vegas Maria sneak out to Don Omar concerts, swear that their friendship and dreams of being pop girlies will last forever, and yo-yo in their love/ hate relationships with drugs, boys, and alcohol. In truth, they are making the same journey every human being makes in spending their youth trying to find fulfillment in everything outside of them that, in truth, is already within. What writers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, of Paquita Salas and Veneno fame, asks is whether God is inside or outside of you? (No innuendos intended)
After a night of partying, Maria begins to have visions of God in glitter and spotlights singing to her Whitney Houston, and the new head nun, played by the ever hilarious Zulema Clares (Bernanda), believe it is God calling her to his side. United, they form a plan of prayer and proper sleep scheduling to make sure The Heavenly Creator knows she heard the call, she’s picking up, and YES! she accepts His love. The thing is…..God laughs at her. Here the play makes an interesting point that separates it from most modern, theater adventures that bring religion as something to make fun of or the very reason people lose their minds. Instead, director Rafa Sanchez makes this show not about religion, itself, as a mindless evil as much as its construct being heartless. For the God of La Liamada, if the Lord sings to you, its because he is ready to have a karaoke partner: not another person saying ¨I Love You¨ without really knowing Him or being able to hold a C note.
My only gripe with La Llamada is that I felt it was pretty rushed. At 90 minutes, without intermission, I would have liked to be able to sit with each character more and learn more about their backgrounds before I say goodbye to them with a rendition of Step By Step. The four actresses, including Laura Castrillón´s Milagros as a sweet nun feeling a little bored with her literal habit, do well to charm you into their brief, brisk worlds. They fully embody women, across ages, trying to find their sacredness in a world that has a poor definition of how to keep holy.
