Curves Ahead

Tuesday evening's rehearsal in Petaluma for "Real Women Have Curves," which runs October 9-10, found a variety of intelligent actors attacking the Josefina Lopez play with relish and Character Actress Launching here working hard to keep up with the spicy lingo and fast-paced dialogue. Words like cuchupeta, and chismo didn't always roll off my tongue, and I needed a bit of help from Joe, the director. I had not yet seen or read the play and hadn't been able to find the movie to rent in the neighborhood before the rehearsal, so it was a cold read for me.

Not having been raised as a Mexican immigrant's daughter, my difference from the characters in the play and some of my co-actors is that I learned Spanish while growing up in Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela - moving every two years or so as my dad's international city planning career pulled the family from country to country. These diverse countries have the common thread of Spanish and their indigenous cultures, but, let's face it, I am still basically a gringa whose mother's from the East Coast and whose father was a Swedish immigrant. I am so grateful to my parents for the advantages I had growing up, and that I learned Spanish at an early age.

We five women and our stage directions reader, Sam Cardenas, sit on stools holding our little play books, mostly marked with our parts in bright magic markers. Robin Rice plays the shop owner, Estela. She's a terrific actress and a natural for the part. Ana Karina Sanchez plays Ana, the protagonist. She was in the last staged reading a year ago, and is swiftly confident. The other actresses - Johaana Raan and Jovita Resendiz - seem a great fit for their roles. I think they were in the show last year, too.

My character, Carmen, is a hostile and worn out mother in her late 40's, heading into menopause. I finally rented the movie DVD last night, and before the damaged disc stopped functioning about 20 minutes into the film, I noticed how they had cast the older veteran actress Lupe Ontiveros for the movie. A producer and community activist, L. O. said in a NYT article in 2002 that she had played over 150 maids in films over the years. I realize now that I saw her live on Broadway in "Zoot Suit" and in one of my facorite films, "El Norte."

What a great study the movie is in how to open up a stage play for film!

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO SEE AN INTERVIEW WITH LUPE ONTIVEROS.