Chicano homesickness

NEIU alum Michael Villarreal directed The Ultimate Pendejada as part of the StageCenter Studio Series. It definitely struck a chord for many in the audience.

Written by Ysidro R. Macias, the play features an ambitious, upwardly-mobile Chicano couple named Robert and Mary Gomes, played by Hector Vazquez and Linnea Carrera.

Robert and Mary are university students living at the height of the Chicano movement during the late 60s and early 70s. The Gomeses are critical and dismissive of it. They have gone so far as to change their last name from "Gomez" to the more Anglo-sounding "Gomes."

They describe themselves as "people of Spanish descent." As a rule, it is offensive to call a U.S.-born person of Mexican descent "Spanish". There is an unmistakable difference between a Chicano and a Spaniard.

A couple named Jack and Jill, played by Jamie Kolacki and Miranda Harold, join the Gomeses for dinner. Jack is amassing wealth through stocks in made-up companies like United Tear Gas and those selling consolidated napalm. There was an intensely uncomfortable moment when Jack half-jokingly shouts out ethnic slurs, but his apology failed to ease the shock of hearing such words.

Moreover, it seems as if Robert and Mary Gomes are caught up in Cold War rhetoric. Exaggerated examples of this made for great satire.

Life changes drastically when the Gomeses meet a militant Chicana activist who goes by the name of Cuahtemoc 'Porfirio' Diaz, a role played by Jessica Cardenas. Robert suddenly reclaims his heritage, proclaiming, "Yeah, we're Mexican! My wife is Mexican! We speak Spanish!"

They are invited to attend a Chicano meeting at "Benito Juarez Hall," which Cuahtemoc admits is actually Richard Nixon Hall. A chorus of "Chicano Power!" erupts. We quickly see, however, that words are not enough and must lead to concrete actions.

Later, the couple decides to make a trip to Mexico. Robert and Mary believe doing so will help reaffirm their newfound Chicano identity. An especially symbolic moment occurs when the Gomeses replace their American flag with a Mexican one.

They then befriend a couple named Emiliano Villa and Flor Hermosa through their involvement in the Chicano movement, played by Nelson Rojas and Amy Stepanek. In a dinner scene, the couple says they are waiting until graduation to get involved in helping the community, if at all. For them, involvement in the movement is set aside for lucrative careers.

Disillusioned, the Gomeses enter a barrio and encounter a Mexican prostitute. It is she who offers the most profound words in the play, saying they can stop searching for the revolution because the revolution is already inside oneself.

It is the outstanding performances of the two female leads, Linnea Carrera and Jessica Cardenas, which ultimately carry the play. Unfamiliarity with certain words in Spanish may lead some to miss the satire in The Ultimate Pendejada. Still, the play succeeds in capturing the painful ironies and contradictions of what it really means to be Chicano in this country.