To begin its landmark twentieth anniversary season, Matrix Theatre Company revives one of its first original productions: 1995’s Southwest Story. This contemporary take on the Romeo and Juliet story pays homage to its most famous predecessors, both Shakespeare’s text and the New York youth of West Side Story; however, the text is not just a translation of an old play to a contemporary setting, but a true adaptation in its own right. As directed by Mona Lucius, this production (staged at the Boll Family Theatre within the downtown Detroit YMCA) threads present-day issues through the timeless relatability of illicit young love, in an enlightening and easily relatable tale.
Here, we lay our scene in fair Southwest Detroit, at a busy intersection that puts the Nuñez family’s corner market and liquor store in opposition with Reverend Turner’s neighborhood church. In close keeping with the beats of the Shakespeare text, the opening scenes introduce the viewer to young Cristina Nuñez (Maria Romo) and Andrae Turner (Damon Whitman), then introduces them to each other when Andrae and his friends crash Cristina’s quinceañera (the Latino predecessor to the sweet sixteen party). The young lovers are beset by obstacles — manifest in Cristina’s cousin, Tomas (Justino Solis), who carries the parents’ feud with him into the younger generation — but also find allies — in particular, wise but insouciant Nicky (Monique Coleman) and Sister Rice (Rubelhia Aleman), a groovy old hippie with a catalog of quirks. The fifteen-year-old script (which was collaboratively penned by Wes Nethercott and a large group of students) has now seen some obvious updates, introducing Facebook and cell phones in thoughtful ways that thoroughly complement the storytelling.
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