¡Gaytino!

Kirk Douglas Theatre
9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City
Through June 11
Friday-Saturday 9 p.m.
Sunday June 4, 4 p.m., Sunday, June 11 1 p.m.
Tickets: $20-40
(213) 628-2772
www.taperahmanson.com

Dan Guerrero's professional life, we learn, has placed him as a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker. The last time this wannabe Broadway star performed onstage in a musical was 1973, and now he's singing and dancing with glee in the return of his one-man show ¡Gaytino! It comes across loud and clear that he is ready to shine again, this time on his own terms. Incorporating all that he picked up in his years in the entertainment industry, Guerrero has put together an extremely polished act, from impeccable choreography, to well-timed humor, to just-enough pulling at the heartstrings. In some ways, this veneer makes it difficult to relate to Guerrero as a person, but his ability to blend his personal tales with larger historical events is enough to keep audiences hooked throughout this fast-paced show.

¡Gaytino! tracks Guerrero's life one decade at a time, from his East L.A. childhood in the late 1940s to this very moment onstage. The son of iconic Mexican-American singer Lalo Guerrero, he spent the first part of his life trying to escape being defined solely by his heritage. Although he moved to New York in order to live out his dreams, he wound up exchanging his goal of starring on Broadway for becoming an agent to Broadway stars; and he traded in his connection to the Latino world for establishing his own roots in the New York gay scene. But things don't feel quite in place until Guerrero shows that he was able to merge his worlds—by becoming a “born-again Latino” and using his industry power to promote Latin artists, by finally coming out to his mother at a late age, and by going back onstage to tell his story.

The show smoothly incorporates anecdotes that are put into a clear historical context. Between his vividly written text and two large screen projections of black and white images that illustrate influential moments and people in his life, Guerrero knows how paint a picture. We get to learn about his father's mark on Latin music, take in some key moments in both the gay and Chicano movements, and observe his own personal growth over several decades. Director Diane Rodriguez would do well to draw out just a bit more vulnerability in Guerrero—as it stands, the show seems almost too crisply directed and well-rehearsed with carefully planned moments that are meant to elicit laughter or tears. That's not to say those moments don't work, and the clarity of his performance is impressive, but it would be even nicer to see glimmers of Guerrero as a person as well as Guerrero as a professional. Kudos to lighting designer José López for creating both dramatic flashiness and haunting silhouettes to set the right mood at the right times. —Sarika Chawla

The Hothouse

Unknown Theater
1110 N. Seward St., Hollywood
Through July 1
$18-24
(323) 466-7781
www.unknowntheater.com

Harold Pinter would say that wrapping your head around one of his plays would be a futile mission for they are not based in a reality that can be penetrated easily. Such is the case with The Hothouse, Pinter's lesser-known second full-length play written in 1958 but not professionally produced until 1980. Though other plays, like The Caretaker and The Homecoming, are recognized as his finest work, The Hothouse contains glimmers of the absurd theatricality that went on to define Pinter as one of the most original and complex Absurdist dramatists.

As The Hothouse opens, the audience finds themselves in the office of Mr. Roote, the chief of staff at a mental hospital, on Christmas Day with Roote, a wonderfully obnoxious Abner Genece, and his mysteriously sinister assistant Mr. Gibbs discussing the affairs of the day. Pinter's disjointed and ambivalent dialogue shines in such scenes where pointed discussion takes the most active role on stage. Among the patients, referred to only by their numbers and never their names, there has been a mysterious death as well as an unexpected and highly controversial birth. How Roote, Gibbs, and other members of the staff, including the overtly sexual Miss Cutts and the alcohol-inclined Mr. Lush, deal with these seemingly separate events takes the audience on a journey in which bureaucracy, paranoia, corruption, betrayal, and sexual and psychological manipulation take center stage. Director Christopher Cappiello skillfully handles the challengingly obscure Pinter language, fraught with extended dramatic pauses, which enables the actors to deliver their lines effortlessly. Art Oden's quietly intense and dignified performance brings a striking balance of brooding wit and charm to the complex and multi-layered character of Gibbs, who has a few secrets up his sleeve. Jason Guess's dark and humorous Lush matches Oden's Gibbs perfectly with the two playing off each other like a simple table tennis game passing the oblique tension back and forth. Kirsten Beyer's perpetually distant and quirky Cutts brings a crucial light-hearted, whimsical flair to the otherwise abstract and jarringly formal dialogue.

As always, Unknown's technical elements are top-notch with a set designed on a turntable to elicit a mystical carousel-like energy as the scenes shift within the hospital and lights that shift dramatically to colorfully illustrate a world of physical, mental, and authoritative abuse. The sound effects border a little far on the creepy and leave the audience disturbed and distracted from the action on stage.

Absurdist theatre is not for everyone but it deserves to be witnessed even by the most casual theatergoer. Absurdist plays promise a theatrical experience entirely unique and mind-bending. As long as plays get the audience thinking and scratching their heads, then they've done their job. —Ramy Eletreby