Review: A DRIVING BEAT at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

A mother mired in grief and her adopted Latino son searching for identity – this is the groundwork for Jordan Ramirez Puckett’s cross-country road trip making a World Premier run at TheatreWorks Second Stage. Director Jeffrey Lo, who’s stellar credits at Theatreworks are legendary, helms this heartfelt production that highlights our ‘chosen’ families, the stigma of racism, and the need to move constantly move forward.

Basically a two-hander (with Livia Gomez Demarchi playing a number of supporting characters), mother Diana (Lee Ann Payne) is driving her son Mateo (Jon Victor Corpuz) from their home in Ohio to San Diego General Hospital where he hopes to find information about his birthmother. Its his 15th birthday gift from a loving, doting mom. The road trip provides the backdrop for the two to bond and come to terms with their demons.

 We find out Mateo is being bullied by his all-white schoolmates and in dream sequences he empowers himself with Latino rap and visions of his real mother. Diana lost her partner Chris twelve years ago but can’t let go of her memory. When a hotel worker comes on to her, Diana can’t allow herself the new interest. A run in with a prejudiced Border Patrol agent brings home the hatred of interracial relationships in a dramatic scene rife with tension and antagonism.

There is humor to balance the two dramatic themes - mom teaching son how to pump gas and drive the car, the license plate game they play while driving through states that all look alike, and her attempts at making Mateo feel comfortable with his culture by making him Midwest Mole with mayo. Of course she supports his need to find his truth, but there’s the fear that she may lose him as well. He needs to know why he was abandoned, which is a horrible thought.

Corpuz has some serious credits under his belt (Hamilton, The King and I, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and is charming as the precocious, determined son. When he does receive the news he so desired, his world is rocked, and his identity challenged. Payne, a TheatreWorks regular, plays the doting mom easily, worrying constantly about Mateo’s safety. Her challenge to move out of stasis is secondary to her son’s quest. Such is a mother’s love. Writer Puckett is a Chicanx playwright from San Jose who clearly understands the complexity of brown-white dynamics.

San Francisco / Bay Area Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. URINETOWN (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble)

20.5% of votes

2. THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company / Z Space)

7.4% of votes

3. SWEENEY TODD (Cabrillo Stage)

7.2% of votes

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