Vistiendo Santos: My Staged Reading with Alicia Kaplan

The reading at a glance

Play

Vistiendo Santos, a comedy by Andrés Correa Guatarasma

Occasion

The Miranda Family Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition reading series at Repertorio Español

Date

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 · 7:00 PM · free admission

Venue

Repertorio Español · 138 East 27th Street, New York, NY 10016

Directed by

Yolanny Rodríguez Torres

Cast

Alicia Kaplan (Lulú), Gredivel Vásquez (Noelia), Juan Manuel Sanabria, José Luis Useche

Result

One of five finalists chosen from more than 150 scripts; later named a runner-up (Playbill)

What Vistiendo Santos is about

Vistiendo Santos is a comedy of mix-ups, culture clashes and second chances. After a police incident with her husband in Texas, Lulú goes home to Santo Domingo, depressed, disenchanted, and carrying more problems than the ones she left behind. Going home does not always mean finding shelter, and even less so when the family has accounts to settle.

Waiting for her are old habits, new debts, and the unavoidable reunion with Noelia, her unmarried cousin, who seems to have stayed put, waiting for life to knock on her door. But has everything really stayed the same in the Caribbean, or is it Lulú who no longer fits in the place she once called home?

Between the promises of the famous American dream and the not always glamorous reality of emigrating, both women run into their own frustrations, expectations and contradictions. Noelia stands for the dreams that never crossed a border. Lulú wants to reinvent herself and find the perfect formula for having the best of both worlds: the flavor of the Caribbean and the comforts of the United States, without giving up either one.

Emigrating is not always reaching paradise, going back does not mean failing, and being single does not mean your life is over.

That is the play in one line. It laughs at appearances, at family pressure, at the illusions we build around migrating, and at that eternal habit of wanting to change your life without giving up a single comfort.

Who played whom

I played Noelia, the cousin who stayed. Alicia Kaplan played Lulú (Lucinda), the cousin who comes back from Texas. Alicia was acting alongside me, not directing: the reading was directed by Yolanny Rodríguez Torres, and Juan Manuel Sanabria and José Luis Useche completed the cast.

Noelia is a gift of a part because she looks like the one who has nothing going on, and she is not. Everything Lulú brings home from the United States, the stories, the complaints, the plans, lands on Noelia, and the comedy is in how she takes it.

A staged reading, not a full production

This was a lectura dramatizada, a staged reading. We did not memorize the script. As the name says, it is a reading: we held the text, but we studied the characters and rehearsed beforehand, about three rehearsals under Yolanny’s direction. We read with intention, we carried the feelings, and we recreated the situations. We wore suitable costumes and used a few key props so the reading would flow and the audience could follow it and enjoy it.

If you have never seen one, I wrote a whole post about it: what a staged reading is, and why it is worth going to one.

Working with Alicia Kaplan

Alicia Kaplan is a Venezuelan actress, dancer, director and producer who founded the bilingual theatre company Danisarte in El Barrio in 1992. Her own New York debut was at Repertorio Español, so she knows that stage as well as anyone. (El Diario profiled her in 2025, and her work as an actress is on her page at Danisarte.)

Working with her on Vistiendo Santos was an enriching and very special experience for me. Acting next to a professional like Alicia gave me the chance to keep learning and growing as an actress. And what a good time we had bringing these two women to life! We enjoyed the process enormously, sharing laughter, complicity and the pleasure of playing and creating together on stage.

Alicia is an actress I respect and admire, and sharing this experience with her was, without a doubt, a gift.

I keep the satisfaction of having been part of this project, the lessons, the moments we shared, and the joy of continuing to explore this wonderful world of theatre. Some experiences go beyond the stage and become memories that enrich us, inspire us and stay with us long after the show is over. We have not worked together on another project since, and I hope that changes soon.

About the playwright, Andrés Correa Guatarasma

Andrés Correa Guatarasma is a Venezuelan-born journalist and playwright. According to Repertorio Español’s program note, he has covered news from more than 25 countries and written for El Universal, the Associated Press, Agencia EFE and El Diario NY. He belongs to the Dramatists Guild of America and to the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE), and he has been a finalist in Repertorio Español’s playwriting contests five times. He also took the photographs from our reading.

The competition, and a play I would meet again

The Miranda Family Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition is Repertorio Español’s contest for new plays about the Latino experience in the United States, open to playwrights living in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. In 2022 the company chose five finalists from more than 150 scripts and gave each one a free public reading between June 14 and 28. Vistiendo Santos was read on the last night.

When the results were announced that September, first place went to Las vidas rotas by Yessi Hernández, and Vistiendo Santos was named among the runners-up. Two years later I played Rosa in Las vidas rotas, and that role earned me the 2025 Premio Talía for Best Actress in a Drama. So two of my favorite memories at Repertorio Español come out of the same year of that competition. My full history with the company is on my Repertorio Español page.

Photographs courtesy of Andrés Correa Guatarasma. The reading’s promotional flyer, 2022.