Cuban Operator Please

Adrian Rodriguez paints a very personal picture of the Cuban exile community, a very different one from what filled our TV screens earlier this year. Father (Jose Antonio) has lived in Union City, Cuba's "northernmost province" since leaving his country. Now married with two sons, he has worked long hours in an embroidery factory to support his family. The transition to life in the U.S. has left him taciturn and unable to show emotion except when playing baseball, his passion. In a succession of five monologues in English son Abel (Omar Hernandez) describes the tormented relationship he had with Father, who is in the hospital about to die.

Images in large photo albums jog his memory. Snow for Abel means fun and maybe a day off from school, while for Father it is a bitter reminder of how far away he is from Cuba. Relatives Abel will never meet do not have anywhere the same importance as to his father. It is clear that Abel has inherited Father's melancholy, and his emotions remain bottled up until they come out as angry bursts, especially when brother Juan chides him for not coming to the hospital on the answering machine. All this while Father has been sitting in his rocker, listening to everything his son has said. Breaks in Abel's speeches allow Father to tell his side of the story in Cuban-accented Spanish. His joie de vivre is gone, and the fear he felt in Cuba turned into frustration in the U.S.

The most touching moments in the play come when he speaks about the feelings he could never exchange with his sons. Mother (Mercy Valladares) meanwhile gets to play telephone roulette, repeatedly dialing to get one of the scarce free lines to Cuba as she yells into the receiver, "Cuban operator, please."

Arian Blanco's direction clarifies the relationship between son and father and creates an intimacy between them and the audience -- an enthusiastic one at this premiere performance. Omar Hernandez does a good job as Abel, but the honors go to Jose Antonio for his finely researched portrayal of aging Father. As Mother, animated Mercy Valladares is a zarzuela unto herself.