Review: ‘Dias y Flores’ at Company of Angels

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Pushing the boundaries of expectation -- particularly when it comes to cultural stereotypes -- is playwright Oliver Mayer’s stock in trade. His new drama, ‘Dias y Flores,’ employs a fanciful modern riff on the ‘Arabian Nights’ to wryly demolish the notion of a monolithic Latino demographic in favor of more complex, idiosyncratic character portraits.

A native Angeleno with mixed Anglo and Latino roots, Mayer straddles the melting pot to bring uniquely poetic voices to people of color. In Luis Alfaro’s minimalist staging for Company of Angels, a quartet of Cuban Americans from Manhattan’s Lower East Side struggle in different ways to reclaim their identities from the roles thrust on them by circumstance. Having escaped as children from a life of predictable boredom back in Cuba, modern-day tale-spinner Sherezad (Marlene Forte) and her brother, Farruco (Mel Rodriguez), are butting their heads against the ceiling of the American Dream.

A trained pianist whose tastes are more attuned to Schubert than salsa, Sherezad even chafes at their given names (‘We sound like a couple of refugees from a falafel shop!’). Farruco owns a parcel franchise and his exposure to a wide swath of Hispanic customers leads him to satirical outbursts of subcultural racism, whether against Mexicans or generic ‘Guate-Salva-Duras.’

In the course of fragmentary storytelling that borders on the surreal -- think urban grit meets magical realism -- the siblings discover new bonds of love between themselves and others. Sherezad, on the rebound from yet another failed relationship, finds a soulmate in handsome street musician Silvio (Miguel Angel Caballero), who brings eloquence to the ideologically contraband songs of his namesake, mainland Cuban trovador Silvio Rodriguez Domínguez. Meanwhile, Farruco’s hermaphroditic employee Pantys (Justin Huen) helps his boss see past his own intolerance.

Flaunting its lyrical romanticism on its literary sleeve, ‘Dias y Flores’ is a far cry from the visceral conflict of ‘Blade to the Heat,’ Mayer’s breakout boxing-ring drama. Some bewildering segments in need of greater clarity make the playwright appear less sure-footed in the arena of the heart, but he continues to illuminate the dreams of underrepresented outsiders with passion and eloquence.

-- Philip Brandes

‘Dias y Flores,’ Company of Angels Theatre at the Alexandria Hotel, 501 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 15. $20. (323) 883-1717. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Read more: The inspiration behind Oliver Mayer’s ‘Dias y Flores’