LatinUS production ‘Quiéreme hasta la locura’ has the right balance

In the current political climate in the United States of America it is not easy being Hispanic/Latino. With the current administration politicizing an entire ethnic group and making them appear to be the reason for all of our perceived woes times are tough indeed.

Cleveland is blessed with an extremely vibrant and enthusiastic Hispanic/Latino community and nothing expresses this better than the burgeoning theater community. Case in point is the LatinUS Black Box Theater that is housed in The Pivot Center located at 2937 West 25th Street.

The company was formed as a 501c3 non-profit in January of 2018 in order to fulfill a growing need for Hispanic/Latino theater in Northeast Ohio. The Pivot Center itself champions various local artists enabling them to enrich the community with cultural expressions and artistic manifestation. As you enter the bright and open building you see the Hispanic/Latino culture and traditions presented in a welcoming and positive way free of stereotypes and misrepresentations. The artwork is colorful, tasteful and quite brilliant. The Black Box Theater housed at the pivot center is well designed and comfortable.

Currently on stage for LatinUS Theater is “Quiéreme hasta la locura” or “Love Me Until Madness”. Set in the Argentinian countryside in the 1960s. It follows the story of two women who both are experiencing love and loss. Isabel (Sandra Corcuera) is a singer who is touring the country with her sister and dreams of making enough money to pay off the mortgage left from their spendthrift deceased father.

Isabel and Alma (Sandra Insaurralde) meet in a makeshift dressing room at a church hall with Alma holding a shotgun on the frightened performer. Isabel is accused of stealing Alma’s fiance but it soon becomes clear that it is Isabel’s sister who is the guilty party. Along with stealing Alma’s fiance, Ignacio (Luis Galicia) the sister has also absconded with the small nest egg they had saved for the mortgage.

As luck would have it, Alma is in her own right a fair singer thus the two decide to cut their losses and join forces. As time passes they begin to play larger halls until they are noticed by a record producer. At this point a letter arrives from the sister saying that she had been abandoned by Ignacio and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to pursue a career as a show girl. Along with this news comes Ignacio attempting to return into Alma’s life.

This show is quite engaging considering its 90 minute length (with no intermission). The entire show is performed in Spanish with English subtitles projected on the back screen. As soloists the singing of the actors is superb. The only fault that could be found was in some of the singing duets their voices do not seem to mesh as well as they should but this is a minor flaw. Sandra Corcuera as Isabel and Sandra Insaurralde as Alma make a dynamic duo as their relationship deepens. Luis Galicia as the hapless Ignacio gets his just reward in the end much to the delight of the predominantly female audience.

The show is smoothly directed by Mónica Torres. Reinaldo Garcia makes full use of the professional lighting set to design some great moods. Inda Blatch-Geib uses color to its fullest advantage in the costume design. The subtitles translated by Sarah De Marchi and projected by Pablo de la Vega make the story easy to follow for the mono-linguist among us.

Now more than ever we need to support live theater as it strives to entertain as well as enlighten us. This is especially true of Hispanic/Latino theater. This sharply written universally themed play has wide appeal and could be produced in any language in the world. Take a drive over to 25th Street to the Pivot Center and see this little gem.

LatinUS Theater Company’s “Quiereme Hasta la Locura (Love Me Until Madness) will be on stage located in the Pivot Center 2937 West 25th Street Cleveland, Ohio through March 2, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets go to http://www.latinustheater.com or call (216) 369-7158.