Review: Rubén C. González Stirs A Mean Urban Soup In LA ESQUINITA, USA

A desolate corner on a bus line long since terminated. An abandoned tire factory denoting jobs lost to China. An urban corner seedy and neglected, occupied by litter and deadly syringes. Sound familiar?

This is LA ESQUINITA, USA, Rubén C. González's metaphor for neighborhoods that time and economy forgot, where the streets are now boulevards of broken dreams, and where hope is replaced by ennui and meth. (Arizona Theatre Company, in co-production with El Teatro Campesino, is presenting the Arizona premiere of his one-man/twelve character opus through February 26th at the Herberger Theater Center.)

To see this corner (esquinita) is to be reminded of Dante's warning at the gates of Hell: "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate." "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."

It is within this tableau that Lencho (Gonzalez), the neighborhood oracle and custodian emerges, unlocking the gates (no, not of Hell, albeit a different version) of the tired factory, removing street litter with a versatile garbage grabber, and commencing to tell the story of those who remain.

Gonzalez is a consummate urban poet, blending the languages of the street and the idiosyncrasies of his characters into a rhythmic and harmonious revelation of uncomfortable truths and challenging possibilities. At the center of his corner of the world is Daniel, a down-and-out crystal meth-addicted 18 year old through whose eyes despair and the barriers to liberation are illuminated. Gonzalez pivots from Daniel and slides from one impression (each a distinctive persona) to another with the agility of an alley cat, morphing at times into a zen-like master who facilitates each transition with frames of spiritual wisdom.

Directed by El Teatro's Producing Artistic Director, Kinan Valdez, Gonzalez delivers a rock solid and emotionally potent performance about a time and a place and human beings with which we all need to be familiar and for which we are obliged to find and share solutions. Gonzalez describes his work as socio-spiritual theater for a new age; LA ESQUINITA, USA is an extraordinary testament to the importance of such a genre in the continuum of modern theatre.

Photo credit to Tim Fuller