A Tale of Politics and Passion

LA JOLLA--Two stories are vying for control of Jose Rivera’s new play, “Adoration of the Old Woman.”

The story that takes up most of the time at La Jolla Playhouse examines the quandary facing Puerto Rico: Should it become the 51st state, should it become an independent nation or should it retain its commonwealth status?

This topic is seldom seen on stage, at least on the mainland. So it feels fresh, though Rivera sometimes uses it as a mere pretext for a situation out of a romance novel.

Yet the title of the play refers to the second story, which is about a very old woman (Ivonne Coll) whose bed is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband’s lover, a young woman named Adoracion (Marisol Padilla Sanchez). This side of the play is taken directly from Rivera’s experiences with his great aunt, whom he visited in Las Arenas, Puerto Rico.

The tale of the old woman and Adoracion probably means more to Rivera, but it doesn’t feel as fresh or as urgent as the play’s political content. The major revelation that emerges from the ghost story is a development that we can see coming far in advance.

Rivera hasn’t found a meaningful way to unite his two stories. After the play was over, I wondered if the old woman, or Adoracion perhaps, is a metaphor for Puerto Rico, or for the United States or.... I gave up. Rivera may have a metaphor worked out in his head, but it hasn’t translated to the stage.

Ultimately, the titular narrative feels like a folk tale included primarily as a nod to magical realism, one of Rivera’s favorite genres. One of the lines in the play acknowledges this, joking about the old woman’s story as an example of magical realism. But the ghost story also feels like a distraction from the more compelling material about the political situation.

The political dispute is painted in broad strokes as a tussle between two men who are both attracted to the old woman’s 17-year-old great-granddaughter Vanessa (Tamara Mello). This cynical girl has been sent to Puerto Rico from her home in Paterson, N.J., in the hope that some brushing up against her family’s roots will straighten her out.

At first, she’s courted by Ismael (Gary Perez), a real estate broker who is a fervent believer in statehood. Next she’s attracted to Cheo (John Ortiz), a young, U.S.-educated advocate of independence. The controversy gets an extra jolt from the fact that the play is set in “the near future,” before an election in which the issue will be decided by the people of Puerto Rico.

It doesn’t take long to figure out where Rivera’s sympathies lie. The great-grandmother, the voice of old Puerto Rico, wants independence. The pro-statehood Ismael is drawn as an older lech, while Cheo’s passions are so pure that he refuses to be diverted from political campaigning for a month before he and Vanessa consummate their mutual attraction on Election Day.

In the last part of the play, the offstage melodrama gets extremely hot and heavy. But the plot turns feel more like a writer’s machinations than like something that actually might happen.

Mello, at the play’s center, has a high voice that emphasizes her youth. It seems a little unlikely that her great-grandmother, who is very religious, would smile so benignly on her casual comings and goings with two older men.

But certainly a woman this old is beyond noticing such details? Not necessarily. This woman notices a lot, and Coll (who is actually in her 50s) has such a strong voice that her advanced age isn’t especially credible. She’s that old mainly so that Rivera can say she was born in 1898, when the Yankees invaded.

In Jo Bonney’s staging, Ortiz and Perez are very good as the men, even when stuck with lame exchanges with Vanessa. After an initially bold presence, Sanchez mostly fades into the woodwork.

*

“Adoration of the Old Woman,” La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Road. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 20. $39-$49. (858) 550-1010. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Marisol Padilla Sanchez...Adoracion

Ivonne Coll...Dona Belen

Tamara Mello...Vanessa

Gary Perez...Ismael

John Ortiz...Cheo

By Jose Rivera. Directed by Jo Bonney. Set by Neil Patel. Costumes by Emilio Sosa. Lighting by Chris Akerlind. Sound by Darron West. Stage manager Diana Moser.