Review: CEBOLLAS at Santa Fe Playhouse

Cebollas by Leonard Madrid

Santa Fe Playhouse, October 19 – November 10, 2024

In this crazy world today, sometimes you just need a little reminder to relax and enjoy the moment. This is the message received when seeing Cebollas, the latest offering at Santa Fe Playhouse, running through November 10.  This new work is a one-act road trip comedy, from the writer of La Lluvia (SF Playhouse’s New Play Reading Series) and Prima’s Guide to Funerals (Creede Rep). Directed with finesse by Jesse Jou, it tells the tale of three Latina sisters – Tere (Christina Martos), Celia (Vanessa Rios y Valles) and Yolie (Cristina Vigil) – who are in a strange predicament – Yolie, the youngest, is very pregnant and in a state of panic when the action begins. It seems Mitch, her lover, has passed away from an apparent heart attack while visiting her in Albuquerque. Unfortunate for many reasons, mostly because Mitch lives in Denver, is married to another woman and she has no idea about Yolie or her baby - she thinks he is away on business. Tere decides the best thing to do is transport the body to Denver and make it look like he died at home, so the wife will be none the wiser, and enlists the help of her older sisters, Celia and Tere.  Easy enough, right?

Celia is a nurse and very protective of her younger sister. She signs on immediately to help in this caper. Tere is more cynical and has a quicker temper – she takes some convincing but eventually gets on board with the plan. The sisters embark on a multi-faceted journey that takes them to several stops including Santa Fe, Trinidad, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock and the promise of IKEA after the drop. They learn a lot about each other and their shared family experience along the way.

The play is a wonderful slice of life – the three actors each have a deep-rooted sense of their characters and the rapport between them is excellent. It was so refreshing to feel immersed in their world for a short 90 minutes; the audience is left wanting to know what happened to these women once the action of this play concludes. (Perhaps Cebollas could become an anthology?)

The only thing that could be improved uponin the production is the sense of the car – specifically, opening and closing of doors when characters enter and exit the vehicle. Since there are no doors, this would have to be pantomimed, but the actors seem to burst out of the side of the vehicle throughout the play.

Scenic projections and set by designer Sandra Lopez are beautifully executed, as is lighting by Vittoria Orlando, sound by Saibi Khalsa and props by Emily Rankin. There is a real sense of time passing through the light in the projected sky.

Cebollas had its world premiere at the Denver Center for Performing Arts in January 2024; this is its second full scale production. Tickets are available at https://santafeplayhouse.org/

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