My Broken Language NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (31)
See it if you want to see excellent performers give life to an important story.
Don't see it if you don't enjoy memory plays or autobiographical works.
See it if if you want to understand the experience of a girl, PuetroRican growing up in NJ in 1990s - it has an outstanding case of women -
Don't see it if if you do not want to know about growing up as latinx girl in NJ in the 1990s
See it if u like a hi-energy ensemble kaleidoscope life story . My Puerto Rican friend loved it & so did Bklyn me.Tiny theater - up close & personal
Don't see it if you wouldn't be comfortable with any Spanish even if reference is clear
See it if You love good writing, want to celebrate women’s bodies, love fluid language
Don't see it if You want a strong linear plot
See it if Like ensemble pieces that incorporate words, music and dance. Like autobiographical pieces. Appreciate stories of family -- especially PR.
Don't see it if Bothered by references to sex, bodily functions, etc. Need a literal, traditional piece.
See it if a W.Philly Puertoriqueña’s journey finding the words that match her world piques your interest w/ lyrical/poetic narration, music, movement.
Don't see it if desiring a ‘traditional’ play. It’s heavy on monologue. At-times over the top w/ literary references. Read more
See it if you have been looking for a play about the five latina family members and the influence they have on each other's lives.
Don't see it if a five character play about the woman who make an memorable impression on the youngest member of their family, sound boring to you. Read more
See it if You follow Hudges 4 insight to her life, if you enjoy combo drama and movement, if you want to reflect on relationship of language/culture
Don't see it if You want dialogue btw characters, this is a poetic memoir, several ensemble members are Quiara, skip if uncomfortable with women's bodies Read more
Critic Reviews (11)
"The show, which honors the many women in Hudes’s maternal line, is a tender collision of scene and image, an impressionistic collage rather than a straightforward biography."
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"4/5 Stars! The show feels more like a party than a play: a family photo album come to vivid, joyous life...Hudes retains the lyrical style of her memoir and infuses it here with dance and live music...Five performers embody her and her kin at different ages, switching comfortably among characters and tongues as the author finds her own voice."
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"Every language on its own is broken, insufficient. But together, in My Broken Language, they make a complete, sublime whole that celebrates a family's life and legacy."
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"The language — which, as the title suggests, is the centerpiece of this theatrical event — ends up being the production's greatest Achilles' heel."
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And, for all the flash and color of Hudes' writing -- a Frank Stella painting described as "a geometric splat," a cousin with a "C-section scar thick as a thumb, bisecting her abdomen from pubes up to navel," the stitches "giving the appearance of caterpillar feet" -- none of the women recalled so vividly ever acquires anything like a character. They remain forever at a remove, appealing subjects for the author's camera eye. And because each member of the company steps in at different times to deliver Hudes' narration, My Broken Language ultimately takes on a curiously disembodied feel.
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"Hudes’ accomplishment is an awe-inspiring monologue for the ages – as is Guevara’s explosive performance of it...Hudes is establishing herself as one of the foremost playwrights increasingly breaking barriers – and diverse barrios."
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Hudes has directed her own play in a delightful vaudeville/musical comedy style with dancing between the scenes to choreography by Ebony Williams to live music played by pianist Ariacne Trujillo-Durand, supervised by Alex Lacamoire. Of the five actresses who perform each in their own inimitable style, three of them have appeared in Hudes’ plays before: Daphne Rubin-Vega and Zabryna Guevara (who play the Author twice each) have appeared in two New York productions and Marilyn Torres has appeared regionally in the Pulitzer Prize-winning, "Water by the Spoonful" at the Old Globe, San Diego. By the end of the evening we feel we have met all of the Perez women as well as know what makes the Author tick.
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The effort, delivered with over-the-top histrionic emphasis, sounding not much different from a hipster poetry slam, allows for considerable choreographic invention, devised by Ebony Williams. Several moments...are striking demonstrations of physical commitment. They fail, though, to supply more than momentary visual distraction to material that could almost as well be read from a podium as performed on a stage.
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