As the 2024 election rapidly approaches, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC) is bringing a timely and pointed take on Latinx identity and political engagement to the stage with "The Ballot of Paola Aguilar."
The comedy, directed by GerRee Hinshaw and starring Laura Chavez, offers a nuanced exploration of representation, personal struggles and diversity within the Latinx community.
The story follows Paola, a Latina professor hired to help an unnamed political party win the Hispanic vote in an upcoming election. As she navigates this complex task, Paola also grapples with personal challenges, including infertility treatments.
The production breaks the fourth wall frequently, creating an intimate connection with its audience.
"This is an interactive play,” Hinshaw explained. “The audience gets real access to Laura (Chavez)’s character, Paola.”
Hinshaw believes this approach is especially effective in Boulder's predominantly white community, where conversations about representation and identity take on particular significance. And she thinks everyone can see themselves somewhere in this script. This approach ensures that audiences from all backgrounds can find points of connection within the story, especially relevant as the nation heads into the 2024 elections.
"I promise no one's off the hook in this show. No one gets to sit back and go 'See, I told you,'" she said.
Leading lady Laura Chavez said the way the play approaches its Latinx characters is deeply important to her.
"To be able to show that diversity within the culture itself, of being Latino, Latinx, Latina, it's a special thing," she said. "We're not used to seeing Latinos in the nuanced places."
The play was actually originally titled "The Hispanic, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Latin Vote." BETC received special permission from playwright Bernardo Cubría to change its name for its production.
"It's a title that the artistic director of BETC, Jessica Robblee, kind of spoke to and worked with Bernardo Cubría, the playwright on," explained Hinshaw. The new title is more than a play just on words, Ballad/Ballot; it also gives audiences a bit more of a sense of “what will be inside this play, (rather) than just the labels.”
While the play tackles serious topics related to the upcoming election, it does so with humor and accessibility.
Hinshaw noted, "It's sort of built-in that we're going to kind of unpack some of this ... stuff together."
This approach, paired with interactive elements, allows the production to address complex issues while maintaining a comedic tone.
The “Ballot of Paola Aguilar” also employs a distinctive approach to the characterization of its political operatives — the production team calls them "the think tank" — who come to Paolo with their efforts to analyze and categorize voter demographics.
Hinshaw described the rapid-fire speech of this duo as "the corporate effect," noting, "When we're in a corporate environment, we start to have this sort of mind meld and we say things we wouldn't say at our dinner table.”
Hinshaw believes the play has something to offer all audiences; it celebrates "the beauty in the Latina/Latinx diaspora" while also providing "a little bit of a masterclass in understanding what, honestly, no one ever really takes the time to unpack about all these words: why we use them, and also why we're not just one thing."
Chavez echoed this sentiment.
"I think we are perfectly seated to be doing this where we're doing this. I think that's the audience that will be most enlightened by the things that we're saying and learn the most throughout the piece.”
Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s "The Ballot of Paola Aguilar" runs at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder through Nov. 3, 2024.
Editor's Note: Boulder Ensemble Theater Company is a financial supporter of CPR News, but has no editorial influence.
