but brings it all together through a depiction of family dynamics and physical and emotional abuse. This is the type of challenging storytelling that you expect from the Milwaukee Rep’s Stiemke Theater. And you will be challenged as well, as you are thrust into the explorations as an audience experiencing a multi-cultural, multi-class, multi-lingual event(s).
There are only two active characters on stage. Sarah, played by Dylan Brown, is a young privileged white woman from Canada, who is staying at a Cancun all-inclusive resort for her sister’s destination wedding. And Regina Carregha plays Adriana, an in control and serious Mexican woman who is the manager of house keeping at the resort. There are a few other characters and playwright Christine Quintana gives them life and presence in the script. They are the mother and sister of Sarah and the boyfriend, father, mother, aunt, and housekeeping staff in Adriana’s life. We only know them through monologues, narrations, and dialogues from Adriana and Sarah. But they bear heavily on the stories being told here.
So, Dylan Brown. Her Sarah is clearly a self-centered young woman who seems more than a little put out by the demands from her mother surrounding Sarah’s role as bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding. I mean, three rehearsals? Really? And Sarah also has a problem with alcohol. Sarah is aware of it and clearly doesn’t care. And she is also clearly aware of her privilege as she brags that her family and friends are financially able to hold this destination wedding. She also brags that her sister and mother are betting on when she will have her first fuck up. Her first interaction with Adriana is a rather demanding moment around the apparent cleanliness of the bathroom.
And Regina Carregha’s Adriana is clearly in charge and sure of her role until Sarah pushes her on the bathroom. Carregha can sometimes seem a bit officious as Adriana, but clearly has empathy for her staff as she carefully matches her supervision on their strengths and weaknesses. And at first Carregha gives us a woman who seemingly is removed from her family and determined to be herself…until we discover she isn’t necessarily here at the resort of her own volition. And then Carregha gives us a stunning example of someone trying to hold it together on the outside while falling apart on the inside after her aunt calls to relay that her father has passed.
But there is more to the stories behind both of our characters and they unwind (unravel?) as the play progresses. And then their relationship suddenly changes when Sarah witnesses an interaction between Adriana and her boyfriend. Did she see what she saw or was it something else? Despite Adriana’s denial, one is never quite sure. We don’t know if we should believe Sarah or Adriana. But both Brown and Carregha effectively make the pivot from their original personas to a newer one. Brown’s Sarah’s epiphany brings a more stable, more aware, and more emphatic character. Brown exudes a new inner strength here and becomes the in control human being you would expect. Carregha’s Adriana tries to exert her managerial persona but she can’t make it believable anymore.
Quintana throws us a few more loops as she adds scenes that are false starts or dreams or nightmares that present alternative viewpoints. But finally some truths will out and we finally understand the under dramas that have driven our characters to be who they are and appear as they wont.
Director Juliette Carrillo certainly put this together seamlessly despite the various shifts in locale, personae, and moods. And those dreams/nightmares spoke as true magical realism and merged into the story and out again.
An important note. This play is presented in English and Spanish. Sarah speaks English all of the time except for a phrase or two of Spanish. When she is speaking, the Spanish translation appears as super-titles above the stage. And except when Adriana is speaking directly with Sarah in English, she is speaking in Spanish and the English translations appear as super-titles above the stage. Now, I am an English speaker, who like Sarah only knows a few phrases and words in Spanish, so I am glued to reading the super-titles. And this is too bad because Carregha is a fluid and dramatic actor and I missed her actions on stage while I tried to keep up!
The stage here was a simple modest workhorse. A bedroom that served as Sarah’s hotel room, a raised bathtub which was bathtub, beach, and shower, and chairs and tables that depending on the scene were whatever they needed to be. Quite dramatic, very effective, and thank you Luciana Stecconi!
And one more thing about the super-titles. I was there during the previews and I had trouble reading some of them. At times the contrast was too low, particularly when they were on the black back curtain or of there was a haze amplified by the spots or if the spots were too hot on the front of the stage.
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents Espejos: Clean at their Stiemke Theater from now through May 11, 2025. Additional information and tickets can be found here.
Extra Credit Reading: The Playbook