THEATER REVIEW : ‘Los Faustinos’ a Community Cornerstone

There are many versions of the Faust legend, but few can boast a devil who assumes the form of Gov. Pete Wilson.

Near the end of Bernardo Solano’s “Los Faustinos,” Mephisto, (Christopher Liam Moore) disguised as the GOP officeholder, visits a Los Angeles neighborhood and beams at the Latino residents, saying he hopes they voted for Proposition 187.

“Los Faustinos” is both set and staged in Watts, where the Cornerstone Theater Company has embarked on a 15-month project to nurture drama in the community. Cornerstone members who have performed similar community-based work nationwide, hope their stay will foster a resident company in Watts.

The neighbors are heavily involved in this second Watts-based production (after a double bill at Watts Towers Art Center). Local kids run the box office and usher viewers to metal folding chairs in the theater of San Miguel Parish Hall. Amateurs from the community compose the bulk of the 34-member cast, with a few Cornerstone pros like Moore in key roles.

The results are fascinating--community theater in the best and truest sense. Solano and director Juliette Carrillo have not come to this neighborhood to patronize or preach about social injustice, the tongue-in-cheek allusion to Gov. Wilson notwithstanding. Instead, they have gone about the serious task of blending classic and contemporary, local and universal, reflecting the reality of Watts within the framework of a popular legend.

Solano’s script, written in English and Spanish, follows the Faustinos, an impoverished Chicano clan whose members agree to sell their souls to Mephisto in exchange for various forms of temporal bliss: a movie career, a bigger house, a high-powered computer, a wide-screen television.

Carrillo’s staging is both sophisticated and church-pageant simple. La Muerte (Shishir Kurup, made up as a human skeleton) narrates the tale and leads a three-piece band providing incidental music. A climactic meal at the Faustino household is presented as the tableau from Da Vinci’s painting of “The Last Supper.”

If the drama sags a bit, it’s partly because Solano skimps on scenes that show the Faustinos enjoying their ill-gotten gains--the kind of scenes that gave Christopher Marlowe’s “Doctor Faustus” its kick. Occasionally, too, the ensemble’s enthusiasm can’t overcome some members’ limited skills.

Yet “Los Faustinos” has more grit, vitality and spirit than countless high-gloss productions. It’s the kind of home-grown theater even a Republican governor could love.

* “Los Faustinos,” San Miguel Parish Hall, 2214 E. 108th St., Watts. Friday, Saturday, 7 p.m., Saturday, Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. (213) 567-8634.