|
 In
this play, the daughter in a Cuban-American family is all set to
marry into a white Jewish American family in suburban Los Angeles – only her little sister is
pregnant, her brother is gay, her parents are divorced and her father’s much
younger second wife shows up uninvited. As if a wedding isn’t chaotic
enough, the extra conflict sets the stage for another “Cuban revolution”
within this dysfunctional family that generates laughter as well as
understanding for immigrant families who try to build a new home in the
United States. Broken Eggs is the fourth of the “Floating Island Plays”
which chronicle a family’s experiences before, during, and after the Cuban
revolution, and deal with the impact of that political situation on people’s
lives. The only one of the four set in the U.S., “Broken Eggs”
 deals with a
mother and ex-wife trying to hold her family together as pressures of
American society threaten to pull them in different directions.
The title
refers to the proverb often attributed to Lenin: "You cannot make an omelet
without breaking a few eggs."
One interesting feature of this play is how the issues raised in ‘Broken
Eggs’ are painfully serious, but the way the play is put together in terms
of plot and dialogue gives it the shape of comedy – outrageous, scandalous
comedy – that reinforces the absurdity of their situation. The play has also
been considered controversial by the Cuban exile community, as it does not
fit the pattern of heaping all blame on Castro for the problems exiles face
in their diaspora. On the contrary, Machado is relentless in his quest to air the
dirty laundry of Cuba's deposed elite.
This play was chosen to suit students' senior research; the cast included
three students with a Latin background; the student assistant director was
from a Cuban exile family. I also wrote and recorded music to accompany
lyrics provided by the playwright.
Review from the student newspaper |
