One of many nice life passages for a lot of mother and father is assembly the one that will in the future marry their son or daughter.
For prosperous Latino mother and father Enrique and Ilana Gomez, this second goes hilariously unsuitable from the beginning, when their daughter Yoli invitations her Mexican-born meant Marcos over to the household’s Pasadena house for dinner. Seems Marcos is White, the son of Bostonites who have been residing in Mexico when he was born, and he reveals up on the Gomez doorstep with the host reward of a piñata. As anticipated, issues go steadily downhill from there.
Written by Gloria Calderón Kellett, “One of many Good Ones” premiered final yr at Pasadena Playhouse. The play’s unique director, Kimberly Senior, has returned to direct the play’s San Diego debut on the Previous Globe, which opened Thursday night time.
Kellett is a veteran tv author/producer and this 90-minute play has the appear and feel of a TV comedy, with quick pacing, a gentle circulate of zinging one-liners, loads of actor double-takes and eye rolls and a predictable blissful ending. Whereas there’s by no means any doubt the place the story’s going, it’s nonetheless an pleasurable trip with some very humorous traces about innate racial biases and the generational divide.
Staged in a stunning two-story Spanish-style house created by scenic designer Takeshi Kata, “One of many Good Ones” was impressed by classics just like the 1957 movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” the place a progressive White couple is surprised when their daughter brings a Black boyfriend house for dinner. Just like the mother and father in that movie, the Gomezes are a tricky promote on their daughter’s new man.
Benito Martinez is a standout within the Globe solid as household patriarch Enrique. His reactions, rage and paternal protectiveness are heartfelt and genuine. Angelique Cabral has some humorous scenes because the comically woke matriarch Ilana, who’s of Latin American heritage however doesn’t communicate Spanish. The younger couple are performed by singularly named Cree as daughter Yoli and Nico Greetham as Marcos. And Santino Jimenez has a number of scenes as Pedro, a Latino supply man who’s not what he appears.
A few of the play’s greatest and funniest moments are the dialogue Kellett has written for Marcos. The overly earnest character speaks in a hilariously cringey Gen Z self-help psychobabble that repeatedly grates on Enrique’s nerves. Marcos and Yoli additionally overshare particulars of their sexual relationship that no mother or father needs to listen to.
The play makes some fascinating factors about Latino identification. Is Marcos, who was raised in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish, any much less Mexican than Enrique, who has spent a lot of his life in America? And although Ilana is Latina, ought to she bear guilt for the White privilege of not talking her ancestors’ native tongue?
Most mother and father finally surrender the battle over cultural and ethnic variations in favor of accepting the one that makes their youngster blissful. That is a kind of tales, however it will get to its vacation spot with some intelligent twists.
‘One of many Good Ones’
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays by means of Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and eight p.m. Saturdays; 2 and seven p.m. Sundays. Via June 22
The place: Previous Globe Theatre, 1363 Previous Globe Manner, Balboa Park
Tickets: $29 and up
Telephone: 619-234-5623
On-line: theoldglobe
