FringeNYC 2013: Scarred For Life: Tale of A Mexican-American Trying To Get Out of East L.A.
SFL chronicles the misadventures of growing up in East Los Angeles and then heading out to college. Told in stand-up form, this one-man show is a comedy about growing up bilingual, bicultural...and by the freeways!
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Megin Jimenez · August 10, 2013
In his one-man show, Scarred for Life, David Valdez recounts his life growing up in the tough neighborhood of East Los Angeles. Through a series of sketches, jokes and wandering anecdotes, Valdez touches on key moments of his childhood and youth as the youngest son of hard-working Mexican immigrants.
The title alludes to the difficult moments that left their marks on him both literally and figuratively, from an attack by a yard chicken to the memory of his father abandoning his family. Valdez directly references the myth of the American dream. Although his perspective is ultimately tinged with a dose of skepticism, he fulfills the fantasy for his own family, as, against all odds, his striving lands him in one of the most exclusive institutions in the country, Yale University.
Valdez has an easygoing demeanor and a polished delivery. His storytelling is aided by funny diagrams and photos projected on a screen behind him. A light sense of humor is the prevailing tone, although there’s a clear effort to mine some raw spots, too, like the sacrifices his mother has made for her children and his alcoholic father’s decision to leave the family. His humor takes on stereotypes of the Mexican immigrant, at times wryly embracing them, at times questioning assumptions, although his point of view remains comfortably in the safe zone. There’s an absence of politics, or fear, and oddly, of the rich details that would make the remarkable parts of his story one to remember. Though he has grown up around gang members, for example, instead of giving his own firsthand account, Valdez encourages the audience to depend on a stock idea of the cholo to understand a lengthy sketch scene spoofing the gang life. While Valdez describes a tricycle accident of his toddlerhood at length, we never learn what part of Mexico his family is from or what the illegal border crossing might have like for them. While we often hear they worked hard, we don’t know what sorts of jobs they held, and though he says he experiences culture shock at Yale because his roommates are all Jewish, beyond this detail, the source of the shock is never made clear. The absence of such grit and deeper analysis keeps the audience in a state of ease, although perhaps it is a mistake to fault the show for keeping the tone comfortable; Valdez does reveal I Love Lucy, his mother’s favorite show, to be his touchstone as a performer: a show that simply made people feel good and laugh.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Scarred For Life: Tale of A Mexican-American Trying To Get Out of East L.A.
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