Many
performers have nightmares about finding themselves onstage in a play
they don't know or haven't rehearsed. In her solo show,
vivacious Latina Ruth Otero takes that notion and runs with it. When
the lights come up, she's in bed, enjoying a snooze, only to
wake up to find herself facing an audience: It's that dream
again! After timorously assuring us that we don't exist, except
in her imagination, she sets out to entertain us - and for the most
part succeeds admirably. Her characters include a woman obsessed with
being special, a Puerto Rican on trial for trying to pass as white,
and a hapless boxer who's lost so many matches even his mother
won't return his phone calls. One of Otero's characters
insists - with waning conviction - that she's not a lesbian,
while another adjusts to the dark side of pregnancy. Otero's
funniest sketch is a mime sequence about an insomniac, performed to
Rossini music that is a hoot in itself. The sensibility is New York
Latin, but the themes are universal. Otero is a lithe, attractive
performer, and director Kim Ima keeps things moving smoothly. (Neal
Weaver)