Cal Rep Solidly Delivers Flawed Chicano Reimagining of Electra Myth

In Greek mythology, Electra avenges the murder of her beloved father and king by abetting her brother’s killing of their mom and new stepdad. In 2003, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Luis Alfaro hit upon the idea of repurposing the myth as a present-day meditation on the vicious cycle of revenge and gang warfare in Los Angeles.

Thus, Electricidad, which sees Alfaro less concerned with being faithful to his sources (no stepdad, for example) than borrowing/augmenting them to tell a tale as new as it is old. It doesn’t always work, but Cal Rep does well with what does.

Electricidad (Stefanie Chavez) is a dyed-in-the-wool chola who loved loved loved her papa, rey de el mundo del cholo, and vows to kill her mother (Jasmine Alcala) for his murder. Sister Ifigenia (Jacqueline Reza) is a chola, too, but a year in a convent has taught her about love and forgiveness, which she’s trying to put into practice, hard as that may be. Their hermano Orestes (Ulyses Chavez), after years away in Vegas getting his cholo training from old-school cholo Nino (Matthew Fernandez), returns to the barrio crushed that papa esta muerto. But is he cholo enough to avenge this murder most foul?

If the choloing above seems a bit much, wait’ll you get a load of the dialog. The characters say it, I dunno, two hundred times, twice in single sentences, like Alfaro’s got an auctorial tic: “You are a stubborn chola. … You don’t know shit, chola.” “You are a baby chola. … You have no idea what it means to be a chola.” “The same reason we all do, chola. Where do cholos go in a world that won’t have us?” “Listen, chola, if you want to follow the way of the chola …”

But there may be a method to this madness. Electricidad is in a Spanglish that to my unschooled ear (I get most of the meanings here but have been exposed to little real-world Spanglish-speaking) often sounds affected — but the gods know that’s true of the Greek of Sophocles and Euripides (OG Electra writers, holmes). Quizás Alfaro is updating the tradition with a Chicano twist (como lo hace with his Greek chorus of broom-wielding vecinas)?

Pero hay otros problemas. Alfaro hasn’t sufficiently retooled his myth of choice for our times. Why, por ejemplo, is everything played out like guns don’t exist? Even if we believe vengeful Electricidad wouldn’t just march inside the unlocked house (she’s camping in the frontyard with papa’s corpse) and shoot her murderous mama en la cabeza, she doesn’t have so much as una pistola for self-defense? Did I mention she’s a chola? And mama, who’s just moved on both el rey AND her own hijo to take control of the East Side Locos, doesn’t roll with even uno bodyguard?

Nonetheless, there’s lots to like in both Alfaro’s writing and Cal Rep’s staging, particularly the humor. It’s here the cast shines brightest, particularly the supporting players, who get the bulk of Alfaro’s best lines. Matthew Fernandez as Nino and Sofia Barerra as Electricidad’s abuela come off as quite weathered for such young’uns as they sell their little punchlines with quiet attitude and wax nostalgic about when cholo life was so fine. Respeto. Ulyses Chavez is funny in the one real humorous stretch he gets, short but sweet, and Jasmine Alcala brings alguna nefarious sass.

This is all served up on a thoughtful sketch of a set, sparing and smart (a pair of tennis shoes dangling off a power line), efficient, even elegant. Thoughtful, too, are the lighting and sound designs (dig the ghetto birds), climaxing in a haunting audiovisual mélange. Too bad the play ends so abruptly (blame Alfaro); the lack of denouement leaves us a little shortchanged. 

So okay, it’s flawed. But because director Sara Guerrero and co. take care to communicate the good, Electricidad brings you somewhere. That may sound like backhanded praise, but theatre that really does this is rarer than it ought to be.

Electricidad at California Repertory — Cal State Long Beach
Times: Thur-Sat 7:30 p.m., plus Sat 2 p.m.
The show runs through October 8.
Cost: $23-$25
Details: (562) 985-5526, csulb.edu/theatre-arts
Venue: CSULB Studio Theater, Theatre Arts Building (South Campus), Long Beach