The theater season is almost over for Teatro de la Luna, but it has one major production to mount: “Las Quiero a las Dos” (“I Want Them Both”) by internationally acclaimed Argentinian playwright Ricardo Talesnik.
Talesnik is well-known at home, and this play is particularly celebrated, having appeared throughout Latin America and in New York. It won a Best Comedy Award from the Argentine Society of Radio, Theatre, Movie and Television Writers.
“It’s a comedy, a big, big comedy, with a capital C,” explained Nucky Walder, producer of the show and one of the founders of Teatro de la Luna. “It’s a classic play about a love triangle. The husband has a wife and a lover. The husband is packing to run off with his lover, but the wife knows about the lover because she has heard her husband talking to her on the telephone. In retaliation, she locks the apartment and hides the keys.
| Onstage |
| ‘Las Quiero a las Dos’ |
| Where: Gunston Arts Center, 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington |
| When: Thursday to June 2 |
| Info: $25 to $35; 703-548-3092; teatrodelaluna.org |
“The wife knows that her husband can’t jump out the window because they live on the eighth floor. Meanwhile, the lover is waiting at the airport for the husband to arrive, but when he doesn’t come, the lover heads to the husband’s apartment. And the wife waits for her to arrive to unleash a scandal.”
As Walder explains it, “Las Quiero” is not just a farce about a philandering man. Instead, it’s an intelligent piece of theater about human nature, full of irony and wisdom about egotism and how men and women are treated differently.
“It’s about routines and why men and women set themselves up in a certain way of life, then look for variations to the routine that they themselves have set up,” said Walder. “Of course the play is also about honesty, loyalty and sincerity. The love triangle is really just a way to examine the way people don’t communicate and the problems that arise when people expect to have life on their own terms, with no social or legal ties.”
Teatro de la Luna’s artistic director, Mario Marcel, directs “Las Quiero a las Dos.” The women will be played by Yovinca Arredondo, who appeared in “Heartstrings,” and Karen Morales-Chacana, remembered for her acting in “Two Scented Rose” and “As If It Were Tonight.” The husband will be played by Peter Pereyra, praised for his performances in many Teatro de la Luna productions, including “She Returned One Night, “Frida, the Passion,” and “Love in the Open Air.”
Teatro de la Luna performs in Spanish with simultaneous translation via headset into English.
