"This [play] does have a happy ending; they usually don’t," explains Odalys Nanin, director, playwright, and producer of her latest theatrical tour de force, Skin of Honey, a saucy story about forbidden love, set during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba.
In Castro’s Cuba, the presence of homosexuals is regarded as a "filth" that needs to be rectified, subjecting those who are found "guilty" of this crime to severe punishments, incarceration, or even the forfeit of one’s own life. As an openly lesbian artist, Nanin illuminates her own beliefs through the two main characters, Amelia and Isabel, female lovebirds caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Nanin challenges her heroines in this fearful era to ultimately test their love.
Young Amelia (Lidya Korotko), who’s family no longer believes in the empty promises of Fidel Castro, must flee the country for the United States, in hopes of a better life in the American Dream. She tearfully leaves behind her best friend and lover, Young Isabel (Andrea Rueda), who still staunchly worships the ideals of the revolucion! With two separate ideological mantras, the two must part ways, but Isabel promises to always love Amelia.
Flash forward to 20 years later (and a spoiler alert), and Amelia (now played by Odalys Nanin herself) returns to her Cuban birthplace, and meets up again with Isabel (Susan Artigas) for the first time in these two decades. The older Amelia comes back as an exemplary woman of success, who has seen and lived in the riches and freedom America has to offer. Though she is in Cuba on a writing assignment, her underlying mission is to transport Isabel away from the oppression that still pervades the island.
What Amelia finds, however, is there is still distance between them-that of a fundamental nature. Although Amelia believes she will be Isabel’s knightess in shining armor, Isabel has obtained a rather nice living on her own, earning a spot as a ballerina in the top dance company in Cuba. She tells Amelia that she cannot fathom abandoning her home, thus insinuating that Amelia is a deserter-of the country, the revolution, and above all else, her.
Ultimately, it is a question of "Can true love prevail?" under the given strain of life-altering obstacles. Says Nanin of her atypical ending, "It’s because of where I am…feel really happy about a lot of things in my life right now."
In addition to a cryptic remark about meeting someone of interest recently, it is evident that Nanin has a lot to be celebrating. Skin of Honey is the first play performed in the new MACHA Theatre, formally the Globe Playhouse in West Hollywood. When founder R. Thad Taylor suddenly died last fall, the fate of the Globe Playhouse was uncertain. Essentially, the structure was up for grabs, and Nanin, who had already put down a deposit to rent out the space for Skin of Honey, was up against five other competitors. "I had to do the play," Nanin explains succinctly.
Ultimately, she received her wish. Now newly decorated, the quaint location is home to Nanin’s baby, the MACHA Theatre and Film Company. MACHA is the feminine of "macho" and stands for Mujeres (Women) Advancing Culture, History & Art. Nanin beautifully sums up her mission for MACHA: "To educate, entertain, and enlighten the audience in a world they don’t understand."
She ruefully remembers, "It was created because there was no voice for Latina women or women of color or women in general." It is her hope that "a young woman comes to see the play and wants to be like [one of the characters]. She is proud to be a lesbian and proud to be a woman."
With such clarity in her visions, it is no wonder that Odalys Nanin has previously won the 2005 Curve Magazine award for Best Lesbian Play for another original, Beyond Love-this is only one of myriad other accumulated accolades.
Like Beyond Love, Skin of Honey is much more than an engagingly entertaining play. "It’s not like Wicked," Nanin compares. "It makes you think." Nanin also knows how to stir up the emotive plate, from a titillating sex scene, to a terrifying interrogation of a transvestite homosexual, to a chillingly pedophilic encounter with Fidel Castro. But above all, Nanin stresses the importance of her favorite motif: "Love is universal. The love energy between two souls is the most important thing in the world."
Skin of Honey will continue to run at the MACHA Theatre, located at 1107 N. Kings Rd., West Hollywood CA, 90069, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through October 28th. Tickets are $30 at the door or advance tickets can be purchased for $27 by calling (323) 654-0680 or by PayPal through MACHA’s website, .
