Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – David Anzuelo’s unseasoned and ill-considered coming-of-age play DÍA Y NOCHE bites off more than it can chew

• By drediman
• March 30, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, I attended LAByrinth Theater’s world premiere production of David Anzuelo’s Día y Noche at Off-Broadway’s 59E59 Theaters. The new play is the centerpiece of the storied theater company’s landmark 30th season. Set in El Paso, Texas in 1984, the work tells the coming-of-age story of two high school outcasts – one a shy, closeted gay Black youth and the other a boisterous Latino punk rocker – who strike up an unlikely friendship.

In short, the production was a disappointment. The most striking thing about Anzuelo’s new work is its structure, which is inspired by the era’s retro double albums – the play’s short, punchy scenes function like tracks on an album, and are segregated as such. Unfortunately, everything else about the overlong endeavor is under-cooked and ill-considered, at least in its current form. The playwright seems to be writing many plays at once, especially during the play’s meandering and unfocused second act, during which the characters go in head-scratching directions. Throughout, the dialogue is clichéd and painfully obvious, and then play’s depiction of sex and relationships (in all forms) struck me as immature if not vulgar.

Alas, the immaturity extends to the performances. As the two high schoolers, Neil Tyrone Pritchard and Freddy Acevedo give eager but ill-advised performances that seemed simultaneously excessively juvenile and too wise for their years (which is likely more the writing’s fault). Ditto to the others in the young cast. The production has been directed by Carlos Armesto, whose barebones staging at least keeps the pacing going at a snappy clip.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

DÍA Y NOCHE
Off-Broadway, Play
LAByrinth Theater Company at 59E59 Theaters
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through April 15