Julio Torres is at all times in the hunt for the subsequent problem. The author, comic, actor and producer is including the title of playwright to his ever-growing, multi-hyphenate listing of occupations. Since his days as an Emmy-nominated author for “Saturday Night time Reside,” Torres has written and starred within the Peabody Award-winning HBO Max authentic sequence “Los Espookys,” wrote and starred within the HBO Max authentic sequence “Fantasmas” and directed, wrote and starred in his first function movie, “Problemista,” co-starring Tilda Swinton.
For his newest enterprise, Torres made his solution to the stage — admittedly not figuring out precisely what goes on within the theater, however keen to take a shot together with his first comedic play, “Colour Theories.” In it, the viewers will get a better take a look at the eccentricities that body his imaginative interior world.
Because the son of a civil engineer and architect/designer, Torres’ knack for world constructing comes as no shock. In a latest function for Architectural Digest, Torres opened the doorways to his wonderland Brooklyn studio condominium, which contained escapist daydream corners and customized futuristic furnishings manufactured from glass, chromatic metals and mirrors, all lower and formed into squiggles and sharp edges. With parts of retro-elegance and the ambiance of a playhouse, Torres’ imaginative and prescient is nostalgically absurdist and extremely refined.
The identical could be stated about most of his work, together with his imaginative and prescient for “Colour Theories.” With the intention to convey his ever unpredictable imaginative and prescient to life, Torres teamed up with longtime scenic design collaborator Tommaso Ortino to create a fantastical surrealist stage for his reside theatrical debut, which came about Sept. 3 on the Efficiency Area New York, situated in downtown Manhattan.
Julio Torres performs in “Colour Theories” on the Efficiency Area New York.
(Emilio Madrid)
Earlier than Torres begins his efficiency, the viewers is greeted by an enormous e book doused in daring, largely major colours, a grandfather clock with the numbers melted off its face à la Dalí and tall, clean scrolls. On high of the e book lies an enormous lipstick-stained wine glass, and an actor mendacity face down in a bubble-shaped, burgundy satin cloak — or, Drew Rollins taking part in the position of spilled wine. Rollins is accompanied by Nick Myers, who sits on the aspect of the stage dressed as a music field in silver foil and outsized pearls. They each play the roles of Torres’ stagehands and narrative helpers. Costumes have been designed by Muriel Parra, greatest recognized for her work in “A Improbable Girl” (2017), “Neruda” (2016) and “The Settlers” (2023).
As soon as the lights come down and the play begins, the whimsical characters crack open the large e book, revealing a stark distinction of clean pages. They proceed to open a flap the place the comic emerges, from the cushioned inside of his personal creation. He begins by describing the summary personalities of various letters of the alphabet, referring to them as workers with “needs, wants, hopes and goals.” From there, he seamlessly transitions into the definition of the primary shade on the listing: navy blue, which represents (American) forms, policing and management. All through the play, this “regulation and order” blue encroaches on the existence of each shade chosen by Torres.
Upon noticing that Torres is spending an excessive amount of time discussing navy blue, his robotic buddy Bebo — additionally a recurring character in “Fantasmas” — pops out of the large clock and serves as a colonel of time and shade story order. (He additionally occurs to be blue.)
What Torres dubs as “relaxed” inexperienced, “commercial-portrayals-of-joy” yellow, “lusty and ragey” pink, “teenage” orange, “tender” beige and “mysterious” purple are all accompanied by playful examples of behaviors, objects and societal conditioning that characterize every shade. The operatic sound results paired with every shade have been created by Lia Ouyang Rusli, who was tasked with the essential position of not solely composing the sounds for every shade, however their respective feelings. Torres defined in a separate interview: “Inexperienced also needs to sound like we mixed the sounds of yellow and blue, and in order that’s enjoyable.”
Some of the poignant moments of the play is throughout his inexperienced monologue, when Torres reminisces concerning the video retailer he grew up visiting in San Salvador. He unashamedly admits he by no means returned a film on time, so the proprietor would cut price the late payment with him based mostly on if the film was requested in the course of the days it was off the shelf or not.
“This was all working completely high quality till Blockbuster got here in and all of the sudden we have been in a navy blue system,” he explains — with a nod to the U.S. affect on El Salvador, particularly in the way in which American capitalism infringes on international locations inside attain of its empirical tentacles.
Immigration standing is a recurring theme in a lot of Torres’ work. In his directorial debut, “Problemista,” Torres performs the protagonist Alejandro, who scrambles to discover a work visa in 30 days after being fired from his job — and makes determined makes an attempt to earn fast money in an effort to pay his authorized charges. In “Colour Theories,” Torres describes a number of run-ins with airport immigration authorities and the issues of touring with a Salvadoran passport.
He recounts being turned away from coming into Costa Rica as a result of his passport was too wrinkled — and of being taken to an interrogation room for not figuring out he wanted a journey visa to enter the U.Okay. Whereas detained, he observed authorities had branded the interrogation space as a pseudo-mental wellness protected house — messaging that contradicted the fact of his expertise.
Torres makes use of blue and pink to exemplify his anti-capitalist stance by endearingly explaining how these with excessive wealth maneuver tax evasion, how governments permit and excuse conflict crimes, and the way pervasive individualism prevents progress. “Colour Theories” reaches its apex when Torres begins discussing the house between the shades black and white — neither representing good nor evil, however slightly the recognized and the unknown.
Julio Torres’ new play “Colour Theories” at Efficiency Area New York.
(Emilio Madrid)
It’s a fantastic solution to take what have turn into very divisive factors of view and create an environment of shared humanity among the many viewers. From right here, the colours that turn into the point of interest are vivid, ethereal mixes of pastels, which spotlight the sweetness in all of our variations and ranges of information.
In simply over an hour, Torres delivers a concise portrait of how he navigates and experiences the world in phrases an elementary schoolchild can perceive — which he jokes about by saying the play shall be taken to colleges throughout the U.S. His character improvement transitions from a justified frustration to the conclusion that people behaving as if they know all of it is the final word act of hubris.
“Colour Theories” doesn’t talk as a pessimistic rant concerning the world however slightly examines how authorities and establishments of energy form our society — and the way that energy complicates and sometimes oppresses the on a regular basis actuality of the common particular person — by utilizing humorous, universally relatable vantage factors and lighthearted popular culture moments.
