The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote a Sharp Satire at Stages

The terminology used to describe people like me has, let’s say, evolved over the years.

Specifically, for me, from Chicano/a and Mexican-American to Hispanic to Latino/a, and then Latinx to Latine.

They’re terms both given to you and a matter of personal preference. My own mother, who first heard the term Latinx from me a couple of years ago and spent the rest of the day annoyed, has been consistent my whole life.

“We American,” she says. “Mexican-American.”

But this is and has been happening for anyone who is, or whose ancestors were, from Latin America or a Spanish-speaking land or culture for years. And the through line for all of it is that there are folks out there who really want to capture the diversity of all these peoples in one word. Sounds like a fool’s errand, but that’s the world we’re entering for Bernardo Cubría’s The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote, which is currently in the midst of its rolling world premiere run at Stages.

To step into the Sterling Stage space for The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote is to walk into a war room (sleekly designed with business-like sterility by Liz Freese). Tweets doomscroll on one screen, an invisible remote flips between cable news channels on another, and crawls wrap around the room sharing stats about things like the number of Latino voters aged 18 to 29 more interested in the presidential race after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden or, if the election were held today, how many Hispanic registered voters would support Republicans. We’re also told that a single IVF (in vitro fertilization) cycle in the United States costs between $10,000 and $15,000, depending on various factors, a fact that soon shows its importance as we meet our protagonist, Dr. Paola Aguilar.

Paola is a 39-year-old academic who wants to be a mom, is on her third try with IVF, and is very in debt. We find Paola in a waiting room for a job that, well, she’s not entirely sure what it is. But she got the lead from her dean, and she knows it has something to do with her field: Latinx studies. It turns out she’s been sought out by the political party. With just over two months until the election, they need help solving a problem, addressing an issue, a national issue, an issue of importance. They want Paola’s help with the Latino vote – and they’re willing to pay big bucks for it.

Despite her clear reservations – after all, how can she speak for an entire community – and her worry about being the “token” Latinx person in the room, “Are you the person to help us get the votes?” is a question she just can’t say no to. They’re offering money in the range of a “fuckton” and she’s got sperm to buy. But it’s not long before she starts encountering the problems in accepting a job to, as she says, “speak on behalf of every Latino so I can put a baby in my pinche uterus.”

If it’s not obvious, Cubría’s script is funny, topical, and uncannily prescient. For a play set “here and now” and was presumably not written last week, it couldn’t be any more here and now. Cubría sharply takes aim at the idea that the titular Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine vote is a monolithic, one that can (and should) have a convenient, catch-all label neatly assigned and accepted, and builds a Horatian satire around it. Cubría is clever, utilizing things like the World Cup or a Russian spy under deep cover as useful metaphors, and playful. Who would have expected a primer on IVF with a rubber chicken and cascarones?

The script, written as a one-act with no intermission, starts off moving at a rapid-fire pace, and director César Jáquez’s firm hand keeps the production running smoothly, navigating the rocky transitions between the show’s comedic beats and its more emotional notes with care. And certain set pieces – like the frantic, nightmarish run up to election day, buoyed by Ash Parra’s dramatic lighting choices and Ricjuane Jenkins’s percussive sound designs – were masterfully executed.  

Interestingly, the play encourages audience engagement, and last night’s audience certainly had jokes. That said, the production, which neared two hours, visibly lost steam as it neared the home stretch. Even the audience, still clearly invested in Paola’s journey, seemed less inclined to play along.

Despite the play’s eye-catchingly long title, Cubría’s script is anchored in Paola’s personal journey and is strongest in moments when it revels in her humanity, played perfectly by Jamie Rezanour.

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Bernardo Cubría’s The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote is making its rolling world premiere at Stages.

Photo by Melissa Taylor Photography

Paola, smartly dressed by costume designer Clair Hummel, quickly becomes the audience’s best friend for the evening and that’s because Rezanour exudes warmth and honesty. She’s someone you want to get behind, whether she’s rightly exasperated, admitting her fears, or finally being asked to acknowledge her own blind spots. In short strokes, Rezanour is able to build a compelling rapport with each of the play’s characters, but her highly charged moments opposite Philip Hays, who plays Kaj Lutken, aka the “white guy in the business suit,” are the most exciting.

In lesser hands, Kaj could (and probably would) be one-note, but luckily that’s not the case here. Cubría also took care to give each member of the political party’s team their moment to shine: Kory LaQuess Pullam’s kindly Bernard, Jordan Umphries’s bouncy Rebecca, and Victoria Villarreal’s wound tightly Nicola. Every Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine character (i.e. every other character) is played by Jose Eduardo Moreno, who exhaustingly runs through a range of characters I’m not going to spoil here, though examples include a grandma’s boy who nearly charmed the pants off the audience and a doctor with a bedside manner you’d probably never want to see.

The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote may be politically-minded, and politically titled, but it’s not preachy. And I can confirm: It’s a fun night at the theater, even if you’re someone who’s already election sick, and it might even be a hopeful little balm for your ills.

Performances of The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote will continue at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through October 6 at Stages, 800 Rosine. For more information, call 713-537-0123 or visit stageshouston.com. $49-$99.