Arrogant young Puerto Rican Fatima (Melissa Camilo), who works as a counter girl at a fast-food restaurant, has been arrested for the murder of 14 people, poisoned at her workplace. Young attorney Jeremy (Clay Bunker) has been assigned to defend her and asks a Latina colleague, Maritza (Arlene Santana), to be his translator. But Fatima refuses to talk to anyone but Maritza, and she's enough of a manipulator to get her way. Fatima claims she has been blessed—or cursed—with psychic powers. By merely clasping the hand of an individual, she says, she can immediately grasp everything about him/her including past, future, and innermost secrets. She tells Maritza that her murders were mercy killings: She "read" each of her victims and killed them because they wanted to die. Maritza is first incredulous, then indignant at Fatima's playing God. She firmly resists letting Fatima clasp her hand, but Fatima is persuasive, constantly shifting from pugnacious, foul-mouthed street girl to wise and wily seductress to gentle, compassionate young woman. Maritza finally offers up her hand, yielding her secrets and placing her fate in Fatima's grasp.
Edwin Sanchez's play is strange but highly compelling, making us care about his odd characters. Jon Lawrence Rivera directs with a sure hand, dispelling disbelief and eliciting strong performances from the three actors at the center of the drama: Camilo as the mercurial, unpredictable Fatima, who has been possessed by the "gift" she never asked for; Santana as Maritza, the tough young lawyer who is more vulnerable than she thinks; and Luz (Marlene Forte), Maritza's mother, who is suffering from a painful and debilitating disease and retreats into fantasies of going out on the town and charming everyone she meets. There is fine support from Bunker; Robert Almodovar as Maritza's father and Luz's adoring husband; and Jerry Oshinsky as Maritza's stern boss, who wisely decides not to let Fatima tell him his future.
Presented by Dijo Productions at the Underground Theater, 1312 N. Wilton Pl., L.A. May 23–June 15. Mon.–Wed., 8 p.m. (Also Sun., 3 p.m. June 12.) (800) 838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/170643.