Olé for Hollywood! is a rarely performed American-Latino comedy which is receiving a long overdue revival this fall at Los Medanos College in northern California thanks to its co-author, KCET’s multi-Emmy and Golden Mike Award-winner, Cris Franco.
Original members of Latin Anonymous: (L-R) Sitting Armando Molina, Luisa Leschin, Diane Rodriguez and Cris Franco
“I always thought our concept of a crazy Latino Hollywood awards show, was ahead of its time” says Franco who in 1997 along with the reknown improv group, Latins Anonymous (Luisa Leschin, Armando Molina and Diane Rodriguez) penned the original version of this madcap sketch-comedy indictment of the American-Latino experience, first titled, The LaLa Awards. Heralded a “comic bulls-eye” by L.A. critics, the show examined a host of topics including: immigrant bashing, the Spanish conquest of Mexico, undocumented laborers, Latina body image, stereotyping gang movies, and the Latino electorate via sketches titled “The Maid Shopping Network” and “The Cultural Climate Report” – where our smiling Generation-Mex weatherman predicts, “an 80% chance of Mexicans, with scattered Salvadorians…”
Despite glowing notices, the show’s initial success was followed with only a few scattered small productions. It wasn’t until 2006 when Franco’s alma mater, California State University, Northridge, expressed interest in doing a main- stage production of the show that he went to work updating, adding new sketches like “Wetback Mountain” and retitling the show. “I started with a new title that better represented the show’s premise — and “Olé for Hollywood!” seemed to fit the bill. But more than a better title, the play needed a villain to bring an urgency and purpose to the night’s broad send-ups and Hispanic hi-jinks. Luckily the CSUN show was being developed right when the self-appointed Minute Men began their campaign to guard the border. I thought – there are our villains!”
Today, using a diverse cast of thirteen talented impressionists, comedians and comic actors from LMC’s Drama Department, the funny-man has kept the original showbiz sent-ups of icons Cheech Marinjana (Kenny Purizaga), Edward James Almost (Robert Dunn), Antonio Bun-Deras (Claudia Vasquez) and added a new batch of Hollywood personalities, including: Cristiano Commando (Federico Bartolo), Sofia Big-Brara (Kristina Cruz) and selling “Low-Real Make-Up” is Jennifer Sopes (Du’Praiseja Smith). Franco also incorporated a new cadre of current politicos like Barak O’Bummer (Leonard Jackson), Sarah Paleface (Ariel McIntyre), Senator Marco Stupido (Terrence Alegre) and Donald Chump (Alex Desjardin) joined by fellow cast members: Mariah Jeffers, Nicole McGraw and Briana Solis.
And it is Los Medanos production’s addition of Donald Chump as the show’s antagonist that really excited the playwright. “Trump is now the perfect contemporary comic villain for a parody like ours,” says Franco, “he’s such an out-loud-and-proud hater that it’s easy to laugh at him, and although he’s a serious as a heart attack, he is comedy gold.”
Los Medanos College is an hour east of Oakland, in Contra Costa County, surrounded by largely agricultural land, which houses many Latino families. And Communities of Color make up approximately half the student body: 37% Latino; 16% African-American, with 53% women.
Franco was brought in as a guest artist to workshop the material with the cast by director Tyrone Davis, 31, a SoCal-born African-American actor and writer, who is an Adjunct Professor at LMC and who works at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. Davis had worked crew on CSUN’s original version of Olé, remembered the show well, and proposed it to the LMC Drama Department. “I was looking for newer voices in theatre and once we contacted Cris, it was a go.” In addition, he was pleasantly reminded of the similarities to George C. Wolfe’s brilliant The Colored Museum.
Franco waxes ebullient on this new version. “The Sabado Gigante-like set (Brian Watson) and Aztechnicolor lighting (Stephanie Lutz) are both pretty spectacular. And despite the show’s apparent silliness, it’s actually got a pretty heavy message, like when Cheech refers to we Latinos as ‘the snag in the fabric of American society’ – you can say things through humor, that you could never say in a drama. And this new Los Medanos College cast is so funny. They arrived at the first rehearsals possessing an evolved sense of comedy and improv. Having been raised watching shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? their theatrical vocabulary is sophisticated, yet they’re ready to play like kids – which is what you need to perform comedy. I can’t wait to see their updated production with the new material. It’s like giving an old friend a face lift – and what’s more Hollywood than that?!”
Olé for Hollywood! plays at Los Medanos College Little Theater, 2700 East Leland Road, Pittsburg, CA 94565 from October 15 through October 26, 2015.. For all show info call: 925-439-2181
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