Naked in the Tropics

Did writer-director Odalys Nanin have an epiphany that it might be nifty to cram every imaginable theatrical style into one play? First and foremost of these, her latest work adheres to the conventions of lust-filled lesbian romantic comedies, a form she has explored several times. Yet the title implies otherwise, as it refers to a fictional gay-male dance club in West Hollywood called the Tropics, where narcotics and flashes of nudity are the order of the night. Meanwhile, Nanin also apparently wanted to dabble in the book musical form, though in a noncommittal way. Characters jarringly launch into Broadway-style show tunes a mere two or three times. On the other hand, perhaps the playwright set out to pen a screwball farce, as slapstick moments also surface. In the home stretch, we get a verbose courtroom drama, in which the tone keeps shifting from serious to goofy.

Nanin's best dialogue comes in the lesbian meet-cute and courtship scenes, charting the passionate but volatile coming together of no-nonsense immigration attorney Alicia (Nanin) and Isis (Natalie Salins), the Cuban immigrant she meets for a blind date. Breezy banter keeps these scenes fun; the two actors have a flair for this sort of humor. Things begin to bog down when we meet Isis' 18-year-old bisexual son, Andres (Carlos Moreno Jr.), who is juggling his interests between the girlfriend he has impregnated (Castille Landon) and dope-peddling dancer Joe (Daniel Rivera), who catches his fancy. When Joe allows Andres to take the fall for a drug bust, Andres faces possible deportation. Alicia comes to Joe's rescue in the courtroom, presided over by a Judge Judy type (Jean St. James). The belated revelation of the judge's true identity is the script's most glaring contrivance.

Rivera is properly sleazy as the dancer leading young Andres astray, and Moreno makes the most of a blandly written role. Carey Embry tries hard in two cross-dress vignettes, but neither character makes much sense: His eccentric courtroom clerk is shoehorned into the scene, and his over-the-top imitation of Katharine Hepburn in another role is less than spot-on. Nanin has attempted a one-size-fits-all entertainment—something for everyone—but a more focused genre piece would yield greater pleasures.


Presented by and at the Macha Theatre, 1107 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. Jan. 23–Feb. 21. Fri.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m. (323) 960-1057. www.plays411.com/nakedtropics.