The cast of Casa Valentina entertains themselves and the audience
Of all the challenges in life, sometimes the most daunting one can be routine. It’s human nature to avoid the mundane and move into the exceptional. Sometimes the only way to fully embrace an anomalous life is by experimenting with the allure of an entirely different way of living, like adopting a second personality on the weekends to completely contrast the person we project at work and at home.
Casa Valentina is about that very desire to live a life which goes against the grain of the white-collar working man. This play takes place in 1962 at a resort in the Catskill Mountains where men with families and respectable jobs escape to let out their desires of temporarily abandoning their normal routines, and live as women. Advertised as a “heaven in a haven,” the clientele all identify as heterosexual men with a desire to embrace a feminine personality within themselves.
Each man ardently holds on to their sexuality in a time when strong bias against gay men still characterizes society; some of the men in dresses go as far as calling the actions of gay men “disgusting” and “immoral.” So when the opportunity arises for the resort to be recognized as an official organization, all of the men must ask themselves if they’re willing to make their second life a public one and risk becoming ostracized and discriminated against in the same fashion as gay men.
When each man adorns his chosen garments, every mannerism becomes entirely female, leaving cast members to face a unique acting challenge of personifying two characters in one play. George (Patrick Page) owns the resort, and in his everyday life would never be mistaken for anything other than masculine. But once he puts on his dress, he becomes the womanly Valentina. One of his/her guests, the judge (Larry Pine), shaves his face in the mirror as a man before gently applying lipstick to make the judge disappear and bring Amy to the forefront.
Albert/Bessie (Tom McGowan) insists the men of this resort are not drag queens, but people “cursed with a Y-chromosome” and the societal implications that it brings. Bessie provides most of the play’s uproarious laughs, as well as insight of the split personalities of these “self-made women.” George/Valentina’s wife Rita (Mare Winningham) runs the resort with him/her, and Rita is the anchor in George’s life that brings a shred of normalcy to this otherwise extraordinary group of men/women.
Casa Valentina’s peculiar subject matter can be objectionable to audience members; some attendees walked out before intermission without returning to their seats. However, this off-putting quality is exactly what this production is acting in the face of with flawless approach; any discomfort experienced in the eye of the beholder is precisely the point. Whether we agree with this particular lifestyle or not, we can all understand the desire to express what’s deep down inside us and the fear of what others may think that keeps that desire bottled up. Casa Valentina is a masterful challenge of the norm forcing the audience to question the whole meaning of “normal.”
Production information:
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Closing: June 29, 2014
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Visit Casa Valentina‘s official website.
– Alex Falls
