Elena Maria Garcia transforms into 14 different characters in Zoetic Stage's original one-woman show "Cuban Chicken Soup: When There's No More Cafe," opening Friday, May 3 at the Carnival Studio Theater in the Arsht Center, through Sunday, May 19. (Photo by Chris Headshots)
“La vida le gusta joder,” the character Elena says in Elena Maria García's latest play, "Cuban Chicken Soup: When There’s No More Café," which opens at the Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, opening Friday, May 3 through Sunday, May 19.
The sentiment, loosely expressed as “Life likes to 'f' with you,” sets the tone for García's latest iteration, a sequel to "¡FUACATA! A Latina's Guide to Surviving the Universe, "and an original one-woman show conceived by García and Stuart Meltzer, artistic director at Zoetic Stage.
While García says it may be a bit early in the play to open with this strong language, she says it’s a catalyst to unfold each character’s storyline.
Elena Maria Garcia and Stuart Meltzer continue the "¡Fuácata!" experience with their new show, "Cuban Chicken Soup: When There's No More Cafe." (Photo by Chris Headshots)
“As the show opens, life happens and Elena gets sucker-punched,” says García. “Ten years have passed since '¡FUACATA!' and we get to see what happens to Elena and some of the other characters.”
García and Meltzer have resurrected many of the same personalities in the original show in the world premiere of this latest joint venture.
Mami, a character from '¡FUACATA!' based on García's mother, returns in this iteration to guide her in the intricacies of making Cuban chicken soup, as does Popi, a character based on a skinny parking attendant she knew at school.
When writing, García says she begins with the main character and other characters will show up.
It’s a give-and-take collaboration for the two long-time friends and colleagues.
"When Elena and I work together, something magical happens,” says Meltzer by telephone from New York where he is directing the off-Broadway production of Broward County playwright Ronnie Larsen's "The Actors," to open in May. (That production has a number of South Florida actors including Jeni Hacker and Gabriell Salgado with costume design by South Florida actor and designer Laura Turnbull.)
The two, he says, go through every moment of the show together and work closely in tandem.
“For 'Cuban Soup,' we leaned into Elena's strength of characters and broad circumstances and with this show you don't have to have seen the original because it stands on its own,” he says.
While García, a four-time Carbonell Award recipient, comes up with the characters from her own life, Meltzer, a multiple Carbonell Award winner, helps curate and streamline the actress's creative energy.
“I understand her energy, humor and language,” he says.
And while the two come from different cultural backgrounds: García is Cuban-American and Meltzer is Jewish-American, they can both relate to chicken soup as a type of liquid love.
In addition to the Sopa de Pollo, they share a sense of humor and similar zeitgeist.
Elena Maria Garcia co-wrote and stars in "Cuban Chicken Soup: When There's No More Cafe," which opens to the public Friday, May 3, and runs through May 19 at the Arsht Center. (Photo by Chris Headshots)
“We look for shared and common ground and find it in themes of chicken soup, nourishment and comedy,” he says. “We’re both funny and encourage each other.”
Comparing the evolution of her characters to the characters’ journey in "The Wizard of Oz," García says, “The show starts at ten and stays at ten,” she says, noting that there are lessons to be learned and an inspirational message at the end.
Among the lessons are: how to nourish yourself (hence, the chicken soup), how to treat yourself well and how to love yourself, etc., all delivered with humor.
And while García inhabits many characters a la Tracey Ullman or Anna Deavere Smith, she says her early comedic influences include Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball as well as comedian John Leguizamo, who talked about his own family and background as a Latin male in his 1998 stand-up show, entitled, "Freak. "
From Ball and Burnett she learned comedic timing.
“Timing is everything,” she says. “Comedy is like music,” she says. “You have to know when to hold the note and when to release it.”
Inspiration for the characters she inhabits comes from daily life and from her powers of observation.
“I’m not looking down at my phone,” she explains. “I watch people," she says, "how they walk, how they chew gum. I observe them and put my observations in my back pocket to pull out when I need them. I look at human behavior, how people move and act and I listen to their stories.”
Inhabiting different personalities came naturally to García' who says it was something her family did at home while telling stories just naturally imitating their idiosyncrasies the way they talked, sounded or gestured.
'¡Fuacata! A Latina's Guide to Surviving the Universe" debuted at the Arsht Center in 2017. Photo credit by Justin Namon.
“It's part of our culture,” she says. “We can all tell stories and enact the characters in different voices and mannerisms.”
She admires fellow playwrights Christopher Durang, Naomi Wallace and Stephen Adly Guirgis ("Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven").
Most recently, García recently wrote an original play, titled "Jude," commissioned by the Institute of Immigration Study at Barry University. The play was performed at the University last March.
Working with Meltzer, whom García says she has known for years, is “always inspiring and never a dull moment.”
Elena Maria Garcia as Marisol, the undocumented immigrant who risked all for a better future, in the 2017 production of "¡Fuacata!" at the Arsht Center. (Photo by Justin Namon)
“We riff off each other constantly,” she says. “It’s a continuous back-and-forth.”
García, ever the perfectionist, has been known to edit even while delivering lines on stage.
With 52 pages of dialogue, there’s a lot to absorb and García will run lines before bed and will not go to sleep unless she has those lines memorized.
Meltzer notes that it’s important to not only collaborate with García but with the audience as well.
“Theater is a living space,” he says. “Forget the world and its mishigas.”
“Be present in the theater for 90 minutes,” he says. “How lucky are we to contribute to making the world a little bit better in our small corner of the universe?”
Elena Maria Garcia as Sophie, a millennial party planning assistant, in the 2017 production of "¡Fuacata! A Latina's Guide to Surviving the Universe." (Photo by Justin Namon)
If You Go
What: Zoetic Stage and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County are proud to present the world premiere of Elena Garcia and Stuart Meltzer’s Cuban Chicken Soup: When There’s No More Café
When: Preview 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, opens 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 3; 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, through Sunday, May 19. Additional performances: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4 and May 18. Zoetic Stage will continue its Second Sunday Talkback series immediately following the matinee performance on Sunday, May 12.
Tickets: $55 - $60.
Where: Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33132.
Information: Call (305) 949-6722 or www.arshtcenter.org/
