Daniel Romero as the central character in “10 Million”
Daniel Romero as the central character in “10 Million” Photo by Enrique de la Osa.
“10 Million” is an autobiographical play by Carlos Celdrán, the founder of Argos Teatros. The play started its life as Celdrán’s diary about the relationships he shared with both of his parents. It is almost like a stream of consciousness as the characters alternate between dialogue, narration, and monologue. The writing is poetic and narrative.
The Author, played by Waldo Franco, stands on stage and watches the audience enter. He then proceeds to tell us that he is not truly the author, but will be portraying him for the sake of the story. He begins by saying that while studying acting in New York City a scene study instructor asked him what mother and father are to him. Thus begins his diary.
This production is heavy but touching and a good reminder for the audience to also reflect on their own relationships.
We see the Author as a child, He, played by Daniel Romero. His parents had divorced when He was very young and He only gets to see his Father, Caleb Casas, for one month out of the year. Mother, Maridelmis Marin, is an important businesswoman at a sugar cane company. His Father is a mechanic and waiting for his chance to leave Cuba. He uses this play has an opportunity to look back at his own actions but also those of his parents and reflect on them.
Franco is a peacefully grounding presence on the stage who reminds us that it is just a play. His ability to flow in and out of a scene like a ghost is haunting. He takes on a few different roles, including teachers, servants, and neighbors, but always stays disconnected from what the scenes are about.
He grows up a lot throughout the story and Romero does a beautiful job of showing this transitions. He is a young man full of passion and energy. Romero electrifies the stage with his presence and makes a clear distinction between directly addressing the audience and acting authentically in the moment.
Casas’ character is quiet and gentle but with deep passion. The evidence of this is seen towards the end of the play when he unleashes an emotional monologue about what it was like just before he was about to leave. Marin’s Mother started out as the opposite of Father: rigid, hard, distant. She wanted to do what was right for He but struggled with making a connection. However, as the show progressed, so did she and she too looked back over her life and reflected in an emotional monologue.
The show featured an original score by Yeandro Tamayo. It was eloquent and atmospheric. His meditative music never took away from the story but seamlessly flowed in and out of the scenes.
The set, designed by Celdrán, was simple and encouraged this sort of dreamlike state that blurs the past and present. It consisted of a couple of steps up and down and the entire back wall was a chalkboard that the characters used throughout as a means of showing the name of the next “chapter” or drawing pictures.
This production is heavy but touching and a good reminder for the audience to also reflect on their own relationships.
This production is in Spanish with English supertitles.
“10 Million” is a part of Artes de Cuba at the Kennedy Center, and ran for only Saturday, May 19, 2018 – Sunday, May 20, 2018. For more information click here.
