As its racy title suggests, Jose Rivera’s References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot abounds with passion, sex, and allusions to everyone’s favorite mustachioed surrealist. But while advertising those elements may pique the audience’s interest, the play, which Nomadic Theater chose for their final production of the season, achieves far more than sexy overtones. It explores the complexity of human relationships and the pertinence of political tensions with Nomadic Theater’s fiercely talented cast executing witty, impassioned dialogue, and the play succeeds in both entertaining and touching its audience.
In the true fashion of Dali, an artist who constantly challenged perceptions of what is real, Rivera’s work exposes the sometimes magical reality behind one seemingly ordinary couple’s life. These glimpses of the impossible are apparent from the play’s start, when a wildly convincing coyote, played by Robert Duffley (COL ’13), tries to seduce a domesticated but easily excitable housecat played by Justine Underhill (COL ’11). (Disclosure: Duffley is a former Voice staff member). Their humorous, highly sexualized dialogue sets the tone of the play, as the coyote boasts, “all nine of your lives will have orgasms!”
These comical exchanges, along with those of Miranda Hall’s (COL ’11) hilariously lusty moon, color Dali’s foreground with passion and humor. Their antics are bolstered wonderfully in the set design, which incorporates a Dali-esque household setting amidst a desert in which the cacti seem to be moving while the moon stands on a mountain nearby.
It is in this setting, which evokes isolation and longing, that the heart of the story develops. It follows Benito, a solder returning home from the Gulf War, and the tension between him and his much-changed wife, Gabriela, that ensues after his return.
As director Amelia Powell (COL ’12) explains in her notes, this plot serves as a foil to that of the opening characters: “A cat and a coyote’s communication is easy compared to the clumsy conversation of a husband and wife.” From the minute Benito arrives, it is clear that the pair share nothing in common anymore—“except for each other … If that is enough,” Powell writes.
In bringing to life this couple’s dynamic relationship, Zoe Lillian (COL ’13) and Joe Grosodonia (COL ’10) are outstanding, as they manage to capture the bond developed solely by passion unraveled with Benito’s absence. In dialogue rife with tension, love, frustration, and fear, both Lillian and Grosodonia expose the emotional depth of their characters in highly nuanced but genuine ways.
Their depictions of these complex characters draw on a wide breadth of human experience, from the feeling of mortality to the pain of building close connections with fellow human beings. Throwing a dose of innocence into the mix is Martin, played by Ryan Merlini (COL ’14), Gabriela’s love-struck, hormonal teenage neighbor. Merlini masters this guise of inexperience and naïveté, as his simplistic devotion to Gabriela sets up a powerful contrast to her otherwise jaded outlook on love.
In this production, Powell’s direction succeeds not only in bringing together a vibrant and talented cast, but in exploring political tensions without preaching. Throughout their running dialogue, Benito and Gabriela reflect on the Gulf War, and what it means to “fight for our freedom” in another country, and the play invites the audience to further ruminate on this theme.
Sex, war, love, politics, and, of course, talking animals: References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot has just about anything a Georgetown theatergoer could want. And with a superb cast and stage design, this Nomadic production is sure to survive the “persistence of memory.”
