www.montereycountyweekly.com JUNE 22-28, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 31 ON STAGE Lupe and the F Train Monster is a short play for children by Marco Ramirez, a Miami playwright who debuted on Broadway in 2016 with Royale, a play based on the life of the first AfricanAmerican heavyweight world boxing champion, Jack Johnson. When Emily Morales-Ortiz, executive founding director for Salinas-based Artists Ink, picked it up for Teatro Oxchitl Ollin (Spanish and Nahuatl for “blossoming movement theater”), Artists Ink’s youth community theater program now in its 10th year, she didn’t know about much Ramirez but was looking for fun, educational material for pre-adolescent children by Latinx writers. Lupe is a 15-minute-long action comedy. In the original, Lupe is a male video-gamer, who rides the F train (understood as both the train within the NYC subway system and a metaphorical Fear train). But in Teatro Oxchitl Ollin’s take, Lupe is a female gamer, played by 11-year-old Lakota Taylor. She rides the F train by herself and one day the infamous F Train Monster chooses her as his nemesis in battle. She will need all her skills to survive. “I like the idea of being able to use video gaming to deal with emotions,” Morales-Ortiz says. The play deals with pre-adolescent issues: self-confidence, fitting in and other inner battles of that period. According to Morales-Ortiz, learning that emotions can be managed, like a game, leads to self-confidence and self-empowerment. “They are so mature,” director Carolina Perez says of the cast, the youngest of whom is barely 4 years old. (In addition to Taylor, the actors are: Estrella Cabrera, Aria Mercado, Milly de la Vara, Aileen Zamora and Alenica Cabrera.) The play is short and funny, and Perez says the young actors are born comedians. The set is minimal—a subway car can be imagined with just a chair arrangement. “Teatro Oxchitl Ollin is a holistic, inclusive program where everything gets shared,” Perez says. “There’s so much talent here; we are so proud of them.” She adds that sometimes she fears that the simplicity of playing is in danger in the modern world, and that play itself should be celebrated as art. “It’s a very magical space,” she says of the program, “to play and feel free.” Lupe and the F Train Monster 7pm Friday, June 23 and Saturday, June 24; 2pm Sunday, June 25. Artists Ink Creative Studio, 1 Midtown Lane, Salinas. Free. artistsink. org. COURTESY OF ARTIST INK Play Time Teatro Oxchitl Ollin is back with Lupe and the F Train Monster, addressing the youngest audience. By Agata Pop˛eda The pandemic slowed things down for Artists Ink’s Teatro Oxchitl Ollin, the Salinasbased children’s community theater program. But now it’s back.
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