No Problemo Amigo

Who are the eternally imperiled masses of America to turn to these days when we need rescuing of the superhero variety? Batman? Too expensive. Superman? Too busy. Colombian-born playwright and actor Jaime Espinal submits an amusing suggestion for cheap, available super labor in his earnest but exhaustingly broad comedy "No Problemo Amigo": Call upon the might of a migrant worker. Espinal's trilingual play, featuring portions in English, Spanish, and Spanglish, with supertitles, also uses nifty projections and sound design to inform this satiric tale about a Latino immigrant adjusting to modern American culture.

When the U.S. State Department outsources superhero work to Jorge Rave, a Latino vigilante played vigorously by Espinal, he must also install himself in a humdrum American job, ostensibly as a cover. However, Espinal's wonky script spends too much of its time at Jorge's place of work, the Exchange Student Paradise, where his hokily intolerant co-workers frequently mangle his name as "whore" or "George" and where Jorge must sort out disputes between exchange students and their host families. There are a few other episodic adventures, such as applying for a green card and teaching a group of door-to-door religious evangelists the multiple uses of the f-word, but Espinal's silly script detours into sincerity only once, during a six-way Skype conversation among Jorge and five friends back in his home country.

Producer-director-designer Angel Gil Orrios has outfitted the apron of the Thalia Spanish Theatre's stage with a translucent scrim, so the American movie clips and cityscapes of Fabricio Saquicela's projection design can interact with the characters directly. The sound design and live music combination by Los 3 Cerditos is omnipresent and precise: Characters can barely cross the stage without an accompanying "Zing!" or "Whoosh!"

Ultimately, Jorge's masked alter ego finds himself in danger of deportation after a lawman catches him without his papers. (He must have left them in his other tights!) It all works out, though, thanks to Jorge's cougar of a boss, Georgina, who is rendered with manic allure by Susan Rybin.

Presented by and at Thalia Spanish Theatre, 41-17 Greenpoint Ave., Queens, N.Y. May 20–June 19. Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. (718) 729-3880 or www.thaliatheatre.org.