By Danny Deza
Three actresses from the Latino Flavored Production (LFP) deepen their voices, sag their pants and talk about their past girlfriends. All in a day’s work.
Leaving their lipstick behind, these actresses trade their skirts for ties in hopes of better depicting Latin male stereotypes.
On Feb. 1, testosterone took over the stage of the ballroom in the Curry Student Center, as the Latin American Student Association (LASO) featured the monologue-based production, “Jose Can Speak.” At 6:30 p.m. students gathered to see the all female cast act in all male roles inspired by real people.
After bringing the award-winning LFP play “YO SOY LATINA!” to Northeastern last year, LASO president Luz Mederos said she and fellow members felt like the production company deserved a second showing.
“One of our old members came across the tour and wanted to bring it to Northeastern,” Mederos said. “We got a really great response from ‘YO SOY LATINA!’ last year and felt that it would be great to bring LFP back for something new.”
“Jose Can Speak” is a play based on seven monologues, each depicting different stereotypes the public might perceive of Latin men.
“Jose Can Speak” was inspired by the owner of LFP and writer of “YO SOY LATINA!,” Linda Nieves-Powell, who was overwhelmed by the amount of feedback from men wanting her to write a play about Latino men and the stereotypes they are known for.
“Guys would come up to me, just ask me to write a show on them,” Nieves-Powell said. “So it inspired me to write a man’s story through a woman’s perspective.”
After traveling the country on college tours, Nieves-Powell, with actresses Elle De Amor and Antonia Marrero, said they have encountered different crowds whose reaction make all their work worth it.
“We have been to schools were only one percent of there student body is Latino and seem to be too afraid to laugh,” Nieves-Powell said. “But you know it is all worth it when you see people cry from our productions and are truly moved.”
The characters portrayed in “Jose Can Speak” range from a Puerto Rican man who falls for an Italian woman to a man named Hector who spouts countless one-liners at the local club. Each monologue brings a humorous tone to the character’s situation but ends with a message.
Nieves-Powell said it was not easy to get men to spill out their emotions, so she looked to personal experiences from past relationships with friends and family members to inspire “Jose Can Speak.”
“One of the characters was inspired by my father. At first my mother didn’t like the idea but I felt it was necessary to share,” Nieves-Powell said.
During the Q’A portion of the production, the actresses addressed the crowd and shared their experiences of playing male roles.
“Being a guy is not easy and it is even harder to come out of it,” Marrero said. “You are forced to separate yourself from what you know and re-learn the basics to really understand your character.”
After the show was done, students and faculty gave a standing ovation to the actresses.
Freshman international affairs and human services major Rachel Hamilton said her expectations were met and that she was drawn to the cross-dressing aspect of the show.
“I really liked it. It kept me entertained and had a great message,” Hamilton said. “It was well-acted and unique.”
Nieves-Powell’s diverse production’s topics range from women battling breast cancer to a gay Latino marrying a woman to get his parents to back off, but Nieves-Powell said she has one underlining message in her work.
“I want people to walk away from my productions and learn to not make assumptions,” Nieves-Powell said. “I try to humanize my characters so people learn not to believe that all stereotypes are true and not to assume the worst.”
