SIBLING STORY
‘Welcome to Arroyo’s’ set amid Puerto Rican community in Lower East Side of New York City
Hip hop, rap, DJs and grafitti all combine in a sibling story that will be set against a mural backdrop painted by local artist Sebastian VELA Velazquez for the next three weekends at Teatro Paraguas.
“Welcome to Arroyo’s,” a play by Kristoffer Diaz, is set amid a Puerto Rican community in the Lower East Side of New York City, where characters struggle with identity, grief and even some romance.
The play’s first weekend of performances corresponds with Teatro Paraguas’ 12th anniversary and marks its 57th production, said Roxanne Tapia, board president.
“We did a reading of it a couple of years ago,” said Tapia, who also is directing the play. “I loved the characters, the story and the way it was told, with DJs and music.”
“It’s really a universal story. It feels totally genuine,” added Alix Hudson, who plays the “angry little sister” Molly, 18, to Rick Vargas’ character Alejandro Arroyo, 24.
The two siblings are left bereft when their mother dies just about a month after buying the bodega at which she had worked for a couple of decades. Immediately, Alejandro converted the space, which had been a neighborhood fixture where neighbors gathered, into a bar and lounge.
Molly wants to talk about her mother all the time, while Alejandro barely mentions her name, setting up friction between the two as they try to deal with their grief and life without their mother. Complications arise when Lelly (Cristina Vigil), who left the neighborhood and got a college education, returns to find she no longer feels comfortable and accepted. As part of her return, she is pursuing a theory that the Arroyos’ mother was a famous pioneering hip hop DJ who disappeared from the music scene when she became pregnant. Even as Alejandro wants to reject that possibility, he feels an attraction to Lelly.
Molly, meanwhile, has been spraying her name all over the neighborhood, a switch from her usual anonymous graffiti, earning an encounter with Officer Derek (Daric Gutierrez) and an experience of “love at first sight.”
Hudson joked that she spends a lot of time stomping around and yelling, as called for in the stage directions of the play. She also uses a considerable amount of rather rough language, so parents uncomfortable with that might think about what age child they’d be willing to have see the play.
“Molly is crying out for help,” she said. “She feels so isolated ... . But her brother is so focused on the bar, he’s not easy to talk to.”
It would be a good play for young people, the two said, with Hudson adding it’s perfect for 13- and 14-year-olds, with its sense of alienation, rebellion and searching for identity.
Serving as a Greek chorus that sets the scene and comments on the action are DJs played by Matthew Montoya and Jonathan Harrell. Besides providing a sound track, the characters also try to convince Alejandro to make them a fixture in the new lounge, Arroyo’s.
Tapia said a group of people involved with this production developed their own playlist, with a lot of help from Montoya, who “wanted to be a DJ when he was growing up and is really familiar with hip hop.”
Velazquez will offer a visual contribution to the neighborhood vibe of the play with artwork on the set. Born in Santa Fe with Argentinian roots, he has been creating art since childhood and currently tends to concentrate on large-scale mural projects. For instance, he created the murals on the Harley-Davidson dealership on Rodeo Road and the Sage Inn restaurant wall along Don Diego at Cerrillos, Tapia said.
While the play carries a strong flavor of the Lower East Side, the two women said they think its themes will resonate with anyone.
For instance, Tapia said she can identify with Lelly, who gets called a “white girl” even though she’s Puerto Rican because she has assimilated so much into mainstream society. Tapia said she grew up speaking English, with older family members talking in Spanish mainly when they didn’t want the kids to understand what they were saying. “I’m still struggling to learn Spanish,” she added.
The questions of who “belongs” and who doesn’t is a universal issue, Hudson said, as are the family dynamics and human relationships in the play.
And, she adds, lest the play sound too “heavy” with issues, it really has a host of funny moments and doesn’t get preachy at all.
“It’s fun,” she said. “There are no antagonists. Everyone is their own worst enemy.”
And just maybe they learn a little about how they all can help each other in the end, she added.