TROPICAL AMERICA

1932, Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros painted a mural on Olvera Street in L.A. depicting a crucified Native American. Promptly painted out due to the controversy it sparked, the mural is now being restored by the Getty Foundation. Juan Devis' new play Tropical America, commissioned by Cal Arts, takes the mural as its thematic inspiration, a launching point from which to explore a series of 11 moments in Latin America history, from the Spanish conquest in 1538, through various revolutions, protests, and cultural movements, up to the present-day struggle between the Zapatistas and the Mexican government. There is no shortage of inherently dramatic historical references here, yet the key problem with Devis' play is that he fails to create much drama onstage. He wants us to care about the various peoples he parades by us in this montage of very rough sketches, but he has not yet done the writing to bring them—or their conflicts—to life. Very few of his scenes have any kind of dramatic arc. Many of them feel like rough first drafts and could easily be eliminated to strengthen what is now a very impressionistic piece. The impressionism is an understandable impulse, as it was inspired by a mural, yet this would work only if the piece were more visually stimulating. As it stands, Carmelo Alvarez's direction is so light-handed as to be hard to detect. Several exceptions are the scenes that build well between characters who are more wholly realized. Devis gives us a fascinating portrait, written in verse, of poet nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz as the "first feminist" (a powerful performance by Ursula Schmidt). Another interesting scene takes place in a tattoo parlor in Spanish Harlem, where two Puerto Rican girls scrap over their notions of cultural identity. Yet another great scene depicts a tense conversation on the Mexican/U.S. border, between a TV journalist and a man from El Salvador who has lost his entire family and needs to come to the U.S. for medicine. Despite her somewhat good-natured appearance, the journalist is ultimately unwilling to help him. Alejandro Patino does a beautiful job as the desperate and kindly man; Lorena Mena gives a finely balanced turn as the journalist. Richard Azurdia is hilarious in a scene set in Miami, playing an over-the-top Cuban woman blabbing to her friends on the phone. The play ends with a good dramatic touch: A man walks onstage with a leaf blower and blows all the characters away. "Tropical America," presented by 24th Street Theatre's Teatro Nuevo at the 24th Street Theatre, 1117 24th St., L.A. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. July 25-Aug. 10. $15. (213) 745-651