What attracts two lovers may be more obvious than what keeps them in sync. A charming smile and smooth opening lines can break through the noise of a crowded club, but what happens after that? Squint your eyes and shake your hips to the 8-count bachata beat.
This Dominican-style music and dance, with its sensual rhythms and heartbreaking occupation, is the basic metaphor for this boy-meets-girl duo by playwright Guadaris del Carmen. Johaira (Maribel Martinez) and Manuel (Xavier Pacheco) pass each other on a steamy night out, begin a duet, and eventually share an apartment in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood.
She is a district attorney and is being promoted to prosecute high-profile cases. He is a mechanic and plans to expand his auto repair shop to his five districts.
By the next scene, they’re navigating the rhythm of their long-running romance. Immerse yourself in the tenors and flavors of their Afro-Dominican background. Their lives continue to intertwine, and they instinctively turn to Spanish at times, teasing and cheering each other on.
Presented in partnership with Sol Project, the naturalistic slice of “Bees and Honey” is more interested in capturing culturally specific details than in opening up landings on the original plot. Set in a colorful catalog-like living room set by designer Shoko Kanbara, director Melissa Crespo directs everyday events with a familiar sitcom feel. And nearly every narrative unfolds to reflect the inevitable truism (sex lives are declining, women are getting pregnant, the elderly need care). For a 2-hour couple drama including breaks, the content is light and surprising.
But what characterizes Johaira and Manuel, and how their syncopations rise and fall, is the texture of their shared tradition. Del Carmen eschews the edge of stereotypes by emphasizing qualities that are variously associated with Dominican men and women, but ultimately creates characters that are believable, albeit mundane. I have succeeded in creating Del Carmen takes a tough stance on how Johaira forces him to read the bellhook as an antidote to Manuel’s inherited masculinity. Her prosecution of a sexual assault case in court adds synthetic emotional fuel to the play’s high-stakes climax, which takes place offstage in front of people she’s never met.
Still, the lightheartedness and strength between Martinez and Pacheco predictably deepen as union relations become more complex, giving the film a sticky charm. Johaira is stubborn, soft, and a stranger to himself, while Martinez embodies inner tension with a radiant clarity. And Pacheco Manuel is full of empathy and eroticism, reflexively attentive and affectionate, ready to react to the slightest provocation. They seem to completely give up unless they are. what happened? As “You lose your footing and the moment flies by,” Johaira said of dancing bachata.
bees & honey
Through June 11th at the MCC Theater in Manhattan. mcctheater.org. Running time: 2 hours.
