Turbulent ’60s a backdrop for surprisingly bland, predictable ‘Hope: Part II of a Mexican Trilogy’

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a generational president for many reasons: his youth, his Catholic faith, his optimistic, camera-ready vision for the country. But let’s also not forget another important fact about JFK: The dude was handsome.

In her play, “Hope: Part II of a Mexican Trilogy,” Evelina Fernández opens with a paean to the newly-elected president’s movie star good looks. Good things seem to be on the horizon for the country and for the hardworking Morales family of Phoenix, Arizona, a group of second- and third-generation Mexican Americans.

But there are storm clouds quickly moving on the horizon — for all parties involved. Good looks fade, but JFK wouldn’t live long enough to see his transformation. As for the Morales family, their blue-collar domestic paradise is built on terribly shaky ground.

“Hope” is being presented by Teatro Vista as a part of the third annual Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, “Destinos.” The three plays that make up Fernández’s Mexican Trilogy (Part I is titled “Faith,” Part III is “Charity”) track the Morales family throughout the course of modern American history. Each play also centers around the impact of an important public figure (the other two feature Franklin Roosevelt and Pope John Paul II).

Additionally, “Hope” incorporates a several period pop hits including “Shout,” “Love Hurts” and “Mr. Sandman.” In fact, the play uses the songs and Kennedy in much the same way: as a device to highlight the characters’ emotional states. Sadly, neither are able to make much of an impact, as both the play and the production, co-directed by Teatro Vista artistic director Ricardo Gutiérrez and ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce, often settle for bland platitudes over real detail or insight.

Kennedy does have one other role to play: imaginary friend. The family’s youngest daughter, Betty (Janyce Caraballo), carries on a series of fantastical phone conversations with her buddy, The President, but she offers him more helpful advice than he is able to provide in return. Then again, the real Kennedy is especially ill-suited to handle this particular domestic issue, which mostly springs from the fact that the Morales family patriarch, Charlie (Eddie Martinez) is a big-time philanderer.

Despite getting caught with lipstick on his collar by his wife, Elena (Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel) in the play’s opening scene, Charlie refuses to back down. He leaves for days, weeks, even months at a time, with his wife and four kids — Betty, Gina, (Ayssette Muñoz), Bobby (Joaquin Rodarte), and Johnny (Nick Mayes) — left to fend for themselves. No wonder Elena starts yearning after Charlie’s much kinder, if inconveniently married, friend Enrique (Victor Maraña).

Joel Maisonet

Even as many of the Morales kids refuse to face the truth about their dad, they are also forced to confront a world in which total nuclear war annihilation is an unnervingly real possibility. Gina, the wisest kid, is quick to point out how infantile it is that the “duck and cover” method — chillingly and hilariously brought to life by a vintage “Bert the Turtle” film reel — would save any of them from a nuclear blast. But when you’re a kid, sometimes wisdom can get the best of you. Gina’s new boyfriend, Rudy (Tommy Rivera-Vega), is a sweet guy, but he’s about to join the army — at exactly the wrong time to avoid combat — and the sexual revolution is just around the corner. “Love Hurts” indeed.

While the play’s cast is lovely — and Gonzalez-Cadel is just wonderful as Elena, her performance a carefully drawn treatise on the thin line between resilience and resignation — neither the production nor the play itself have any oomph. Even the moments when the cast burst into song — and such great songs, at that — have a flatness to them instead of a pop.

As the Cuban Missile Crisis passes by, it’s as though the Morales family is stuck inside a wannabe Ken Burns documentary. The family’s lives are messy, but “Hope” is a very tidy play. There are no surprises: not in the plot, in the characters, in the scenes, or in the dialogue. We know how the Kennedy administration ended, sure, but that doesn’t mean that a play like this one has to be so predictable.

Alex Huntsberger is a local freelance writer.