Reviewed by Tracey Paleo, Gia On The Move
Some stories about love are filled with heartbreak. This is one of them. Some stories about love empower and enliven the narrator. This is one of them. And some stories about love make us realize that when all is said, done and experienced, the only thing we are is very, very human – to the core.
Gabriela Ortega opened her world premiere solo show, Las Garcia, at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe with an invitation to audiences to be wrapped into her very personal family tale of life-long searching for the grandmother who has influenced her life in so many more ways than she initially realizes. What they got was an enlightening, partly historical-political journey, that exquisitely and quite playfully details the closed-door intricacies of love and war, secrets and adventure.
The struggle of a woman takes place in her heart. She is strong, defiant, longing for beauty in love and life, capable of reaching into the deepest places within herself to dream and willing to sacrifice everything to achieve it. Las Garcia are these women – to the core.
Gabriela Ortega is thoroughly enchanting as an actress. As a female storyteller, her appeal rests within her own willingness to expose her most vulnerable and naive parts. Las Garcia is a gorgeous ode, in Ortega’s carefully crafted words, to the women who have come before us and whose lives help us to discover our own power through losses as well as triumphs.
“Come fly with me.”
*WINNER: ENCORE PRODUCER’S AWARD 2016
*WINNER: 2016 FRINGE SCHOLARSHIP
*NOMINEE: “BEST SOLO SHOW” HOLLYWOOD FRINGE 2016
*NOMINEE: O FACE AWARD “MOST ORGASMIC WRITING” 2016
*NOMINEE: BECHDEL-WALLACE AWARD, FRINGE 2016
Directed by Alex Alpharaoh
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One response to “#HFF16: Las Garcia, reviewed”
She is an inspiration for all of us who think about creating one woman shows – and just think about it. Wish I could have seen it.