by Alan Bresloff
The Epoch Times
November 11, 2007
CHICAGO—Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz's A Park in Our House shows us political struggles and how lives were changed by the events of 1958 in Cuba. It is 1970, and we see a family still reeling due to the changes brought about by Castro's totalitarian system that was forced onto them. While there are some very funny moments in this tale of a loss of innocence, the truth is sad—what the people thought was going to be a better life didn't turn out that way.
The family members await the arrival of a botanist from Russia, Dimitri (the always capable Lance Baker), an International exchange party member, who himself is not happy with the communism in his country. Each member of the family is touched by his arrival: Ofelina (Charin Alvarez) is dynamic as the family Matriarch in her award winning performance. Hilario (deftly handled by Gustavo Mellado), her husband is working for the government but is unhappy with his inability to get his park built. The couple are guardians for their niece and nephew whose parents were lost during the revolution; Pilar (the angelic Marcela Munoz) who believes in the USSR and the "party" and is searching for love (and finds it with their guest—or is it just lust?) and Camilo (Bubba Weiler) who has not only lost his parents, but his voice. The last member of the family, Fifo (the robust Joe Minoso, who is always fun to watch on stage), is forced to work the fields instead of being a photographer. Directed by Dennis Zacek, this collaboration with Teatro Vista is a solid production that provokes thought, principally: why did the Cuban people want to have Castro in power? What did they expect? And, what did they end up with?
Samuel Ball's set is very real and with the lighting effects by Patrick Chan, we can almost feel the heat of the Cuban summer. Judith Lundberg's costumes and Mikhail Fiksel's sound complete this picture.
This script and the very talented cast help us realize what the Cubans gave up and what they got in exchange. This marvelous work will continue at the
