The powerful production was a partnership between Teatro Nuevo México and the Tricklock Company Revolutions International Theatre Festival with support from the McCune Foundation. The ancient classical tale of Electra was dramatized by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and the MacArthur Foundation genius-award-winning playwright Luis Alfaro uses elements from each of them in his adaptation. More importantly, he has placed the action in a vibrant East Los Angeles barrio and captured the vigorous Spanglish patois of its residents. The implacable revenge that permeates the Greek House of Atreus is recognizable among the cholos and cholas with their gang tattoos and violent encounters.

The play opens with Electricidad mourning over the dead body of her father, Agamenón, the head of the East Side Locos, who was killed by his wife Clemencia. Electricidad has stolen her father’s body from Forest Lawn Cemetery where it was on display, and she has placed the body on a bier in the front yard of her mother’s home. Electricidad is filled with hatred for her mother and vows not to leave her father’s side until she can revenge his murder. Her grandmother Abuela and then her mother try to change her mind as they talk about the old ways to power and the New Women of the barrio. In a brilliant stroke Alfaro envisions Electricidad’s sister Ifigenia as a “muy peligrosa chola” who has been in convent school. This allows the two sisters to talk about events from a Christian point of view that was, of course, absent in ancient Greece. Meanwhile, Electricidad’s brother Orestes, thought lost, is training with a cholo tutor to toughen himself. Orestes returns to his home and joins his sister in the revenge plot to kill their mother.

Director Asae Dean filled the cavernous NHCC stage with two-character scenes in the ancient Greek way. The action was generally set upstage, and I had trouble hearing the swift and witty dialogue. I wonder if the portion of the stage over the orchestra pit can support actors since it is underused in production. There was some fine acting, especially among the strong women in the cast. Replacing the Greek chorus were Las Vecinas, a spunky trio of busybodies from the hood (Alicia Lueras Maldonado, Kim Nieve Larrichio, and Michelle Otero). Rosalia Triana was fun as the fading but feisty Abuela, and Sylvia Sarmiento was a sassy Clemencia. Diminutive Beatriz Villegas played Ifigenia as a confused product of gang violence and Christian forgiveness. Imposing Stephen A. Eiland projected an aura of violence as Nino, and Barney Lopez played Orestes with passion. Acting honors go to Sabina Zuñiga-Varela as Electricidad. On stage the whole time, Zuñiga-Varela never lost focus on her character’s passionate hatred. Her tears were real.

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