Theater Review -- Tom Titus

When you’re an Army wife stuck in the Barstow desert while your

husband’s off on military maneuvers, your biggest challenge is fighting

the interminable boredom that’s as dangerous to your mental health as the

howling coyotes outside are to your pets’ physical well-being.

With a little imagination, you can dream up a romantic fantasy, such

as Jose Rivera has done in his play “References to Salvador Dali Make Me

Hot,” first glimpsed at South Coast Repertory and now being showcased at

Orange Coast College in a sensually exciting production from student

director Laura Viramontes.

The piece is divided into four scenes -- the first and last being

heroine Gabriela’s fantasy world, the middle two representing the harsh

reality she endures when her husband arrives home from the field. These

sequences play in stark contrast and offer conflicting views of

Gabriela’s personality, and of the aching loneliness she struggles to put

into words.

She and her husband, Benito, occupy the same emotional planes as

Blanche and Stanley in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the irrevocable

struggle between fantasy and reality. Benito’s Army life and Gabriela’s

dances with the desert moon are worlds apart. Both live unfulfilled

lives, from which neither is willing to escape.

At OCC, Gabriela is beautifully interpreted by Angela Lopez, whose

character has limited education but is wise enough to realize she yearns

for something more meaningful. Lopez brings both dimensions of Gabriela’s

existence to life with an urgency born of frustration in a marvelous

performance.

As her soldier husband, equally exasperated with his wife’s growing

disenchantment, Andrew L. Vonderschmitt doesn’t quite project the

dimension his role demands. He chooses to explore only the surface facets

of his character. Doubling as the fiddle-playing man in the moon,

Vonderschmitt casts a more romantic shadow in the fantasy sequences.

The animals that occupy Gabriela’s fantasy world, the cat and the

coyote, are beautifully interpreted by Nancy Troia and Josh Lash,

respectively -- they alternate with Jessica Teter and Chris Meditz. Troia

brings a splendid feline sensuality to her performance, while Lash exudes

passionate carnal energy as he pursues his domesticated companion.

Vincent Torres Jr. completes the cast as the 14-year-old neighbor with

raging hormones and sexual designs on the much older (and married)

Gabriela. Torres successfully projects a younger image and a virginal

curiosity as he tempts his unhappy neighbor.

Viramontes has fashioned an exceptional production in the limited

dimensions of OCC’s Drama Lab Studio, where scenic backdrops (nicely

designed by Martina McCrea) must be hauled in and out of the theater to

establish the play’s particular mood. One nice touch is Vonderschmitt’s

Salvador Dali mustache, flared up in his first scene, but drooping

downward as daylight nears in the second, which may be credited to

costume and makeup designer Jennifer Rogers.

“References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot” is a labor of love for

director Viramontes, who was on staff at South Coast Repertory when the

play premiered a few seasons ago and spearheaded its production at OCC.

She has created a sensual and dramatically involving production.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

* What: “References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot”

* Where: Orange Coast College Studio Theater, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa

* When: Final performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday

* Cost: $6

* Call: (714) 432-5640