Review: MEXODUS at Pasadena Playhouse

The heat, the pulse, the beat and that charged but hopeful heart – check, check, check and check again...all are present and wonderfully accounted for at the L.A. premiere of MEXODUS under the direction of David Mendizabal at The Pasadena Playhouse. Given the show’s pedigree, subject and its past reception in venues from Baltimore to Berkeley to off-Broadway, and the fact that co-creators Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson are also still performing this marvelous tale of liberty and resistance, expectations for the L.A. run were high.

Also exceeded.  By attending a performance of MEXODUS and watching Quijada and Robinson as they loop, rap and spin out their musical afresh, we are bearing witness and also participating in something more impactful. When we hum along, dance, applaud or whatever (folks in the up close Get Down section probably have more opportunity to, you know, get down), the connection to the story and to its themes feels that much more immediate. Now especially (and, yeah, I’ve been using this phrase a crap-ton since November of 2024), stories about locating humanity amidst sewers of injustice, are critical. MEXODUS is a tale of an unlikely act of brotherhood, and also a cry for decency. And it cooks.

This story, its performers remind us, is based on historical events, but not on actual people “based on the few facts we have,” Robinson says, “Facts we never learned in history class,” adds Quijada. Between 1829 and 1865, thousands of Black slaves fled the United States across the southern border to Mexico in search of a new life (gotta love that irony!).  That information comes at the end of the performance’s 90 minutes, as Quijada and Robinson are wrapping things up and giving us one last jolt of, what, solidarity, before sending us back out onto the streets of the Rose City.

The performers telling this story are a Black man and a Latino man, both of whose artistic and ethnic identities are referenced and briefly woven into the narrative as part of the framing. Robinson and Quijada are super-talented storytellers – rappers, DJs, dancers and above all musicians. Whether it’s Robinson on an upright bass, or Quijada on guitar or accordion, or one (or both) of them laying down a track, the performers build their live-looped soundtrack in real time. Some of the music and dialog is entirely in Spanish, but even for those who don’t speak the language, understanding what’s going on won’t be an issue.  

MEXODUS tracks the convergence of two people: Henry (played by Robinson) a Kentucky-born slave, ripped from his family and forced to live and work on a plantation in Texas. After an unfortunate encounter with the plantation owner’s wife, Henry kills the owner and somehow makes it across the Rio Grand where he hides out on the farm of Carlos (Quijada), a former Mexican Army officer and deserter. Well-aware that he could earn a hefty reward for turning Henry in, Carlos instead makes a different choice, nursing him back to health and enlisting him to rehabilitate the farm after a devastating storm. It’s not an easy partnership. The two men clash, fight and have to overcome several of their own prejudices in order to forge a new bond.

A sampling:

     I have to stay, make up for all the things I lost along the way,

     Lost to the United States, I’m in a state descontrolado

     Con este hombre del otro lado.

     I’ll lead the way and he’ll follow.

If these rapped rhymes are in any way evoking echoes of IN THE HEIGHTS or HAMILTON, that probably tracks, especially within the context of recounting a distinctly American story. No, Quijada and Robinson aren’t taking on the founding fathers, but MEXODUS unquestionably touching on themes of dreams of freedom both physical and emotional. These two performers are collaborators playing enemies-turned-uneasy-compatriots. Not that either actor is departing any time soon, but it will be fascinating to watch the progress of MEXODUS when it passes into the hands of other actors.

The collective use of sounds and music as the narrative engine is especially masterful. Beats are used to depict the elements - storms, floods, flashes of lightning, and guitars are wielded as shovels to dig trenches and help rebuild. The combination of Mextly Couzin’s lighting and the looping systems architecture/sound design of Mikhail Fiksel contribute significantly to MEXODUS’S full-throttle experience.

The play ends in the present with the two performers stepping back into their own personas, offering an exhortation, a call to “go ahead and stare at us,” but also to pass down these stories by word of mouth. We may not possess Quijada and Robinson’s same narrative tools – few people will - but we can damn sure learn by their example.

MEXODUS plays through August 2 at 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena.

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