Following
the Jester Interview conversation with writer, director and co-star Karina
Arroyave and co-star Gary Hilborn of “The Love Junkies of Hell’s Kitchen,”
which has its closing night in the Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival
on September 2, another dimension of humor and comedy in the play came alive at
the August 31 performance.
Arroyave’s
character, Chula, tries humor to defuse her feelings and distance herself from
her own dysfunction of retaining feelings for a husband who may or may not be coming back. She
goes off into angry, but very funny rants, into the camera set up in the
foreground of stage that serves as a reminder that Chula is recording
everything that happens as her own reality show.
As
a writer, with this play, Arroyave has used comedy as a building block for the
drama, and between the laughs, she gets across the truths about the characters
without ever spelling them out in the dialogue. And the funny dialogue of
these characters makes it all the more touching when the dramatic moments
surface in the play – especially when Chula’s deflections no longer are enough.
