By Robert St. Martin
West Hollywood, California (The Hollywood Times) 02/04/2024
Saturday was the opening night of a play Middle of the World by Juan José Alfonso at Matrix Theatre in West Hollywood. This intriguing new play by Alfonso is presented by the Rogue Machine Company and directed by multi-award winner Guillermo Cienfuegos. The play is built around the unlikely encounter between two individuals on a New York City Uber ride that sets in motion a story of redemption and an unexpected alliance that straddles two countries and two very different work cultures. Middle of the World is a thought-provoking play that forces us to question our own assumptions about power, money, and the way we prejudge others, especially immigrants.
The Uber driver in New York is Victoria, who we quickly learn was an important person in Ecuador. Now broke, disgraced, and separated from her son, she is determined to get back home and regain what she has lost. The rider in her car is Glenn, a successful banker of American African background, who has worked his way from low-income housing to the verge of closing the biggest deal of his impressive career in finance at Deutsche Bank. The play opens with a conversation that begins between these two individuals as they deal with preconceived assumptions about social status and cautiously reveal the complexities of their lives.
The basic premise of the play expands as we hear and see how Victoria’s experiences In Ecuador have shaped how she came to be in New York and excluded from most employment opportunities other than driving for Uber. Using a series of flashbacks, we see Victoria in Quito, Ecuador, in a position of power dealing with a highly charged political and economic issue that is central to Ecuador’s current issues with petroleum drilling in the Amazon and a pipeline to the coast largely financed by American oil interests. The play takes its title from the geographical centrality of Ecuador on the equator, literally the “middle of the earth” – and how one can be to two hemispheres at the same time.
Glenn eventually reveals that he has a brother who is a social activist in Chicago and a much-loved school principal. Glenn has been alienated from his brother for several years, as he pursued an Ivy League education in economics and secured a high-paying position with a major banking firm in New York City. As Victoria questions his capitalist profiteering ln the banking field, it becomes apparent that Victoria has an extensive U.S.-based education in economics as well. What is different is their respective views of money and where it should be spent for the good of others.
The play develops the interesting relationship between Glenn and Victoria, as we see her growing influence on Glenn’s thinking even though she is considerably older than him. Because she is a strong woman and highly articulate, Glenn finds her intriguing and attractive. He is drawn to her and even offers to hire her as his personal driver at the bank where he works. How all this pans out is the plot of the rest of the play.
Juan José Alfonso wrote his first play, An Educated Guess, based on his own experience as an immigrant to the United States. The play was developed at New York Theatre Workshop and Steppenwolf (produced by Definition Theatre Company). His second and third plays were developed in residency at the Geffen Playhouse’s Writers’ Room program, and Middle of the World was first produced at Boise Contemporary Theater in October of 2023. In an interview, Alfonso shared: “The central relationship in this story came to me as I was thinking about the intimacy of two people from radically different walks of life, coming together in a moving vehicle while stuck in traffic.”
Continued Alfonso: “Often times, we’re surprised by what we learn. How many stories have we heard about the Uber driver who used to be an engineer in Belarus, a surgeon in Cuba, or the CTO of a pharmaceutical company who now drives just for fun. The character of Victoria is based on an amalgamation of three well known South American women who had to fight incredible odds in chauvinistic cultures to gain a voice in their own governments and eventually make it to the top. And yet in the US we have failed to elect a female president.”
Guillermo Cienfuegos (Artistic Director & Director) serves as Artistic Director at Rogue Machine, along with Founding Artistic Director John Perrin Flynn. He directed the Rogue Machine productions of Heroes of the Fourth Turning, The Beautiful People, Disposable Necessities, Ready Steady Yeti Go and Dutch Masters – not to overlook his award-wining production of Shakespeare’s Henry V at Pacific Resident Theatre.
Middle of the World opened at 8pm on Saturday, January 27 and runs at 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays through March 4, 2024. (no performances on January 29, February 12, March 1). Rogue Machine (in the Matrix Theatre) is located at 7657 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046.
Tickets are $45 for general seating (Seniors: $35; Students with ID; $25). Pay-What-You-Can: Feb. 2 (10+), Feb. 9, 16 ($15+), Feb. 23 ($20+). Reservations: https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ or for more information 855-585-5185.
