STAGE WEST: "Notes on Killing Seven Oversight Management and Economic Stability Board Members" at Moxie Theatre

Christine Carmela and William BJ Robinson in "Notes."                                             Photo by Daren Scott

             Let’s begin with a ground rule: I am only going to refer to Mara Velez Melendez’s “Notes on Killing Seven Oversight Management and Economic Stability Board Members” by its full title now. Henceforth this muddled piece onstage at Moxie Theatre shall be simply referred to as “Notes.”
            Now that that’s out of the way, it’s worth noting that even at an hour and 40 minutes (a hella long one act), “Notes” has the feel and vibe of a show that could’ve kept going and going and going. William BJ Robinson (as a Nuyorican receptionist in search of a name and an identity) impersonates seven people (it felt like more) in drag; he could’ve done 17. Christine Carmela (as trans would-be Puerto Rican assassin Lolita) could’ve engaged in twice the number of political diatribes and who’d know?
             When “Notes” does end – fresh outta board members – it’s like it doesn’t.
            Inspired by the real-life armed attack on Congress by Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita Lebron 70 years ago, “Notes” offers up a modern-day Lolita (no relation) who arrives bearing her father’s gun at the Wall Street office of a board empowered to restructure Puerto Rico’s debt. Convinced that the myopic board will do what benefits IT and not her homeland, she is bound to shoot them all dead.
           Here’s where suspension is disbelief is absolutely mandatory: Lolita faints on arrival and her gun is grabbed by the above-mentioned receptionist. So is everything after she wakes up going to be a dream, we wonder? I did. But moving on.
           Once roused from stupor, Lolita is informed by the wily receptionist that she can’t be admitted into the board offices until she proves herself – by faux-assassinating the seven as drag-impersonated by you-know-who.
        This is where the narrative tug-o-war of this play begins: the series of broad drag impersonations vs. the protagonist’s high-strung political ferocity.
            Entertaining as it (the drag) can be at times, the gambit is excessive. It doesn’t help that though the costumes (designed by Regan A. McKay, the real star of this production) are outrageous fun, Robinson tends to play each character the same way with the same delivery. Other than appearance, one “board member” blends into another.
          Carmela, on the other hand, is a compelling presence on the Moxie stage. Tall and physical and coolly intense, she’s like a Puerto Rican iteration of The Bride from the “Kill Bill” movies. Carmela originated the part of Lolita in 2022 at Soho Rep in New York so she knows it backward and forward.    
           Maybe she could explain it to me?
           Really, it’s not that complicated – it’s just that “Notes” tries to say far too much even in an over-long one-act. You could start with the notion of “self-determination.” In Melendez’s script, that’s at the heart of Lolita’s causey foray on behalf of Puerto Rico. It also informs both her and, more so, the receptionist’s assertion of gender identity.
            Too bad that this justifiably important component becomes just one of many many in “Notes.”
         Andrea Agosto doubtlessly did her best in directing this production. Trying to balance the polemics with the physicality and flash had to have been arduous.
            So, was it all Lolita’s fever dream or did a drag show break out and hijack her quest for truth and justice?
            Don’t ask me. I was only in the audience.
          “Notes On Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members” runs through May 26 at Moxie Theatre in Rolando.