ESENDOM

Cultura y conciencia

The play Domino Effect is a capicua written by Marco Antonio Rodríguez

Art, TheatreEMMANUEL ESPINALComment

From back to front: Shadi Ghaheri (left), Willie the Genius (right), Angela Reynoso and Tony Macy-Pérez

Photo: Emmanuel Abreu

Let life shuffle the pieces and choose your dominoes with intuition. Look at your hand while strategizing with what are your strengths and your weaknesses while adjusting as the game declares itself in front of you. Play your hand right, pass when you are missing pieces, block others when you have the upper hand and you might win. Let the dominoes fall where they may. Remember drawing blanks aren't necessarily a bad thing as it is the best way to win with a 'Chuchazo'. In the end, sometimes just living is a rebellion. Capicua. 

- Emmanuel Espinal

By Emmanuel Espinal
April 5, 2025

*As of the 16th of April the play has had an extention and will now go until the 26th of April

At a time when the world is in full chaos and the U.S. is as divided politically and ideologically as it was right before the Civil War, as Troy is figuratively and literally burning... a previewing of a play called Domino Effect, which speaks to many of these themes of division opened yesterday April 4th at the A.R.T/New York Theatres in the Upper West Side. The play brings you to the meeting place where a game of dominoes becomes a therapy session for four generations to discuss their own chaos as complex human beings, as they find healing through discussion and burying the deadweight they are carrying, leading to common ground. Domino Effect is the latest theatrical project of Dominican director Mino Lora and written by the award winning playwright of Dominican descent, Marco Antonio Rodríguez. Like his other plays, La Luz de Cigarrillo and Barceló con Hielo, Marco Antonio navigates through themes of identity, migration, tolerance, acceptance, liberty, generational societal norms and culture in the exposition of complex characters and their negotiation of existence in their communities.

The play starts with an older gentleman, a baby boomer, setting up a dominoes table near a park bench in Fort Tryon Park in Washington Heights and opens a wooden chair which stays empty as he places the dominoes on the table. The lights go out and you can hear the steps of the three other characters that enter the scene. They only appear once the lights come back on; a black transgender woman named Pepper Malveaux played by Willie the Genius, a queer Iranian migrant named Atash Hesam played by Shadi Ghaheri and a teenage Dominican gen Z named Gisel Fortuna played by Angela Reynoso. It is through the conversations and arguments of the characters, that we find out the older man goes by the named of Mandi, short for Armando, whom is played by Tony Macy-Pérez. As the drama unfolds, in this corner of the park and in between a game of dominoes, there are discoveries that are made that lead "coincidences" to become empathy as common ground for healing.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
— Albert Camus, Philosopher

From left to right: Marco Antonio Rodríguez (playwright), Tony Macy-Pérez, Angela Reynoso, Shadi Ghaheri, Willie the Genius and Mino Lora (artistic director)

Photo: courtesy of The People’s Theatre

Domino Effect is a modern day study of the philosophy of Albert Camus and his idea of human existence in the absurdity of man. Like in Camus' argument, the characters do not succumb to despair in their lives but instead embrace freedom and authenticity in the present, staying true to themselves by burying their grievances in defiance to societal norms. It is through conversation and even Voguing that they realize the underlying theme of Donna Summer's 'Love to Love You Baby', by loving themselves. For each individual character just living and existing as they are is a rebellion to the absurdity of the society they form a part of. 

The play takes you through a labyrinth of reflections while going on a rollercoaster of emotions. You will be engulfed by each character’s personal story interwoven with that of each other’s and peppered sporadically with laughter; you will jump out of your seat, reflect on the themes expressed and even shed a few tears. Domino Effect is a play in which there is depth in every single pose, movement that flows like prose and you are hooked until the lights go out signaling the close. It is a very relevant play at this exact time in our immediate history, that opens the door to discussions that should be had. Marco Antonio once again peers into the soul of the human condition and like Milan Kundera makes you think of the unbearable lightness of being.


Domino Effect deserves a standing ovation as Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Mino Lora and the cast put on a show of a life time.

Domino Effect has a limited engagement
Location:
A.R.T,/New York Theaters
In the Jeffery and Paula Gural Theatre

Show is approx. 90mins (no intermission)
Previews run from: April 4-8 @7:00pm
Opening night: April 9 @ 7:00pm

@8:00pm April 10, 17 & 24
@7:00pm April 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 23, 25 & 26
@2:00pm April 13, 19, 20 & 26

Left to right: Angela Reynoso, Shadi Ghaheri, Tony Macy-Pérez and Willie the Genius

Photo: Emmanuel Abreu

Marco Antonio Rodríguez plays we have covered of the years.

Collage: Emmanuel Espinal