A new bilingual play is making its east coast premiere at Syracuse Stage. The show weaves English and Spanish together as the two characters have a chance encounter in a torrential downpour that leads them to confront their own personal storms.
"Espejos: Clean" is being produced by Syracuse Stage in collaboration with Hartford Stage. It's set at a resort in Cancun where Sarah, the self-described family screw-up portrayed by Kate Abbruzzese, is visiting from Vancouver for her sister's wedding. Emma Ramos portrays Adriana, the manager of the housekeeping staff at the resort who worked her way up after leaving a complicated home life eight years prior.
Espejos translates to "mirror" with Abbruzzese saying the characters of Sarah and Adriana mirror each other in how they confront their pasts.
"Adriana has pushed through the pain of her history by really being very energetically involved in her work and sort of subsuming herself in her work and focusing," Abbruzzese said. "Sarah has real trouble keeping her life together and turns to substances to numb herself through the pain. Both characters are coping and numbing in different ways, some perhaps in more productive ways than other others."
Sarah and Adriana continue to mirror each other in their appearance — Sarah with big curly hair, wearing a bathing suit and loose flowy clothing. Adriana typically with her hair pulled back in a polished suit uniform.
The two also mirror each other in language: Sarah speaks in English and Adriana in Spanish. Supertitles projected onto the blue pool tiled set provide translation for both Spanish and English speakers. The show's program, with notes from the playwright and design team, is in both languages as well. Play director Melissa Crespo emphasized the want for both communities to feel equally deserving.
"It's something that we're very proud of and we hope people don't see at all a disadvantage to seeing and understanding and enjoying the show," Crespo said.
The two actresses are the only performers, as they invite the audience into their inner thoughts bringing them back to prior memories before the two women cross paths during a rain storm which requires them to confront their traumas. The playwright worked with a Spanish translator and adaptor to ensure the Spanish not only had the same meaning but communicated the same feeling.
"During the play, you're going to hear 'I'm sorry' a lot from these two characters," Ramos said. "The translation for 'I'm sorry' in Spanish is 'Lo siento' which is 'I feel.' We would love for it to be safe for people to let feelings go through them in order to keep walking."
Ramos said performing the role is one of the bravest things she's done in her career as the second she steps onstage and starts talking she said a division is created between her and the audience.
"This is a brave piece because I don't shut up and everything is in Spanish," Ramos said. "From the second I come out, I can sense who in that audience is a Spanish speaker and who's trying and who's not comfortable to feel alienated by the whole thing."
Abbruzzese is not a native Spanish speaker and said while there are some challenges to the piece, like learning when her cues are, its brought several gifts.
"The pleasure has been learning a few phrases, a lot of curse words, in Spanish," Abbruzzese said. "The pleasure has been learning more about Mexico. The pleasure has been learning more about the different varieties of Spanish dialects."
Syracuse Stage has never done a bilingual piece before. Crespo says its an honor to bring "Espejos: Clean" to Syracuse.
"I know that Syracuse has 86 languages spoken here," Crespo said. "We have a vibrant refugee community. There's so many people in that situation here and I hope that they feel welcome and know that this play is for them."
"Espejos: Clean" is on stage through March 5.
