Chicago Sun Times July 23, 2008
'Esperanza' deftly explores loss and salvation
[Pam Muñoz Ryan's] coming-of-age novel Esperanza Rising is a window into another culture. For the most part, it explores the plight of Mexicans who came north to eke out an existence on migrant farms during the Great Depression. It is an important novel for young readers.
Playwright Lynne Alvarez transplanted the story's heartfelt drama into her stage adaptation, which packs as much of the novel's action into 90 minutes as it can.
Chicago Children's Theatre kicks off the Goodman Theatre's Latino Theater Festival with its heartfelt staging. Director Henry Godinez has staged a nicely nicely etched production that will get young minds thinking about life during the Great Depression and how it affected the lives of all Americans.
A likable trio of mariachis (Ricardo Gutierrez, Gonzalo Cordova and Rudy Pinon) singing classic Mexican tunes sets the mood as the play opens on a Mexican estate with pampered Esperanza (Maite Alvarez) eagerly preparing to celebrate her 12th birthday. Spoiled and cluelessly callous toward the hardships of the less fortunate, she snootily dismisses the servants. But her life is upended when her landowner father dies. Under the law, her mother, Ramona (the always wonderful Charin Alavrez), cannot inherit land, but her greedy uncle has a plan and proposes marriage to a shocked Ramona, who refuses.
When the ranch suspiciously burns to the ground, Esperanza is forced to travel to California with the servants, where she laments that she has "lost everything she was meant to be."
But the journey proves to be her salvation as she learns the importance of friends and family while living and learning in a migrant worker community. It is her childhood friend Miguel (Juan Gabriel Ruiz), the play's angry young man, who proves his friendship to Esperanza in a life-affirming way.
The play's whirlwind second act sits in sharp contrast to the finely drawn first half. It is perhaps packed a little too full of key events from the book, including a union-organizing rally gone bad, anti-Mexican discrimination, an invasion of immigration officials and Esperanza's frustrating attempts to learn basic work skills.
Much of the production's strength lies in the fine performances of the strong cast, which features Chicago Latino actors, both veteran and up-and-coming.
As Esperanza, Maite Alvarez, a senior at Northwestern University, may be a bit too old for the role. Nevertheless, she manages to aptly portray Esperanza's transformation from selfish brat to reformed young woman.
But she is nearly upstaged by Gabi Mayorga, a junior at the Theater School at DePaul University, who play Isabel, an ebullient young girl who befriends Esperanza in the migrant camp.
Also effective in their roles are Laura E. Grotte as Hortensia, the housekeeper who guides Esperanza; Sandra Delgado as Modesta, Isabel's nurturing mother; Brenda Arellano as Marta, an ardent union organizer; Joe Minoso doing double duty as Esperanza's vile uncle and Isabel's charming father, and Gustavo Mellado as Esperanza's devoted father.
Tom Burch's set design is simple but highly effective as the landscape changes from wealth to near poverty. Nan Zabriskie's fine costumes and Heather Gilbert's subtle lighting make the package complete.