Ethnicity no obstacle to be ‘Latina’ star

What a setup: A Lebanese-American singer agrees to a J.Lo/Shakira makeover to win pop-star success.

But for all its outrageous wit and energetic performances, Company One’s production of “Learn to be Latina” is like a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that’s funny at first but goes on too long.

Written by young San Francisco playwright Enrique Urueta and directed by Greg Maraio, “Learn to be Latina” starts off as a sharp, exaggerated satire on selling your soul to a corporate culture in which ethnic types run hot and cold — and, no matter one’s sexual orientation, it’s imperative to act straight.

Mixing dance, movement, hand puppets and free-flowing shtick, the corporate characters are clever cartoons. Their company? Funky Artist Development, or FAD. Only our heroine, Hanan (Shawna O’Brien), and office slave Bianca (Kristina Kattar) are allowed a few genuine emotions.

There’s plenty of edgy wit. When the execs at FAD first quiz Hanan about her personality, their reaction is, “Completely self-centered! Excellent!” When they find out she’s Lebanese- Ameri-can: “Don’t bomb anything on your way out.” And when Hanan accuses them of racism, their answer is perfect: “Some of my best friends are like you, and by some, I mean none.”

There are lines here you won’t find anywhere else. “Always think: What would Tiffany do?” And, “In the wise words of Axl Rose ...”

The smart, sometimes offensive humor is refreshing at first, but by the 30-minute mark, one becomes aware there is a sell-by date for stridently outrageous social farce. This product begins to turn when head honcho Mary (an ethnic consultant with a Ph.D. in pop culture) pulls out her sock puppet.

This pointed, campy, larger-than-life show may score with Boston’s underserved, gay/lesbian theater audience. The cast has unflagging energy, and there are spot-on bits like the scandal-fueled Latino TV show “Elena!” (In this role, Crystal Lisbon, who does double duty as Mary, is wonderfully cheesy.)

But the fun runs out too soon. Late doses of lesbian romance and gooey sentiment, which may be parodies themselves, are too little, too late to make this endless, repetitive skit worth two acts. The players are ready for prime time, but the material is not quite.

Source Daniel Gewertz

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