THEATER REVIEW : ‘Brown Hat’: A Well-Disguised Melodrama

Alfredo Ramos’ “The Last Angry Brown Hat,” at Plaza de la Raza, is a standard reunion-and-revelations play, staged with such conviction that it’s possible to ignore its formulaic qualities, at least until you’re out of the theater.

Four former Chicano activists reunite 20 years later, after the funeral of a fifth. They meet in a garage stashed with memorabilia from their Brown Berets days. The set, credited to the “production staff and artists,” looks homemade, in the very best sense.

The quartet now ranges from a successful screenwriter (Mike Gomez) to a down-and-out alcoholic (Del Zamora). In between on the economic scale are a teacher (Danny de la Paz) and a welder (Richard Yniguez).

Each has an emotional story to tell. The topics include an incident in Vietnam, isolation in the Ivy League, homosexuality that was repressed for years, and a wife’s affair with the deceased. It’s all very schematic.

The final example of remembered melodrama--the welder’s story--sounds none too credible, considering his descriptions of the people involved and the timing of the story’s climax. And some of the details of characterization are painfully obvious--the screenwriter requests a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, pointing out that it’s “a natural cholesterol fighter.”

In between the individual tales, the men engage in the requisite debate about whether the fires of political activism might be relit or whether it’s time to acknowledge that their lives have moved on to other concerns. As the title suggests, the latter viewpoint generally prevails, but not without some heartwarming male bonding.

Jose Luis Valenzuela’s direction and a very strong cast disguise the predictability of the script with remarkable facility.

“The Last Angry Brown Hat,” Plaza de la Raza Margo Albert Theatre, 3540 N. Mission Road, Lincoln Heights. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m. Ends Saturday. $10. (213) 223-2475. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.