‘Destiny of Desire’ isn’t your typical telenovela
Karen Zacarias would cringe when uninformed critics reviewing works by Latino playwrights used the word “telenovela” to describe stage performances — particularly those depicting intense emotion — that were well outside of the popular genre.
It’s not that she has a problem with telenovelas, but she shuddered at the idea that the term was used as a default to stereotype Latino-written works.
So Zacarias thought about teaching audiences what a real telenovela looks like and engaging them in a play that would test the genre, celebrate the culture and employ a large Latino cast.
The result: “Destiny of Desire,” a two-hour telenovela with original songs and plot twists making its West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory. The show plays through Nov. 13.
“Theater can be exciting, emotional and intellectual, but sometimes it lacks heart,” Zacarias said by phone from her home in Washington, D.C. “We are putting an all-Latino cast on South Coast Repertory’s main stage, and it’s an indication of how we are part of American theater.”
And those stereotypes? Don’t expect them.
“I think that will send a huge ripple because we have actors who are tired of playing the maid, the impoverished immigrant or gangster,” she said. “This play is to reflect our humor, our sophistication and our representation in theater.”
Telenovelas are often equated with soap operas, but they are more like a mini-series, she explained. They have a beginning, a middle and an end, and often resolution.
The storylines are often powered by emotions such as revenge, family, love and passion and at times encourage social change. This genre, the playwright said, needed a conversation in contemporary American theatre.
The play begins on a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, where two baby girls are born — one into a life of privilege, the other of poverty. A scheming former beauty queen switches the babies at birth, and 18 years later, the girls are brought together by misfortune.
The comedy is a co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and is directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, the artistic director of the Los Angeles Theatre Center, an award-winning theater and film director and a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
It’s a familiar cast to Valenzuela, as his wife, Evelina Fernandez, their daughter Esperanza America and son Fidel Gomez are all part of the production.
America, who plays Pilar Castillo, one of the women who was switched at birth, said she and her family were interested in pursuing the play, as it is a story about women defining their own destiny in a telenovela format that shows the reality of socioeconomic class.
“People’s perception of what Latinos do now is very skewed,” said America, a UCLA alumnus. “Theater is an amazing way to give a voice to our community and to people without a voice. We use it as a vehicle to show the talents of our people.”
With their father as a director and their mother as an actress and playwright, America and Gomez said they enjoyed growing up in an artistic family and had considered other industries for work, but always found themselves returning to theater.
When they aren’t rehearsing, the family said they continue the conversation about the play, its themes and characters’ motivations at home.
“Destiny of Desire,” Gomez said, is a political and cultural movement as it highlights relationships and redefines the Latino community and creates dialogue about human behavior.
What the play is not is a parody or satire, Zacarias said.
“It’s an act of rebellion,” she said. “It’s an homage to a telenovela. There’s this kind of deliciousness to it and you start to care about the characters. It’s really fun to watch all these things unfold.”
*
IF YOU GO
What: “Destiny of Desire”
When: Till Nov. 13
Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Cost: Tickets start at $22
Information: (714) 708-5555 or scr.org
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
