Drama Review: The Latino Experience Then and Now

Latino Theatre Company, “The Little King of Norwalk,” Sept. 25 – Nov 2, 2025, “Mascogos,” Oct. 2 – Nov. 9, 2025, Los Angeles Theater Center

Nov. 3, 2025 | By Bruce R. Feldman

In Brief: A topical comedy and a time-shifting historical drama, both inspired by actual events, illuminate little known aspects of the Latino experience in America.

Randy Vasquez, Ruth Livier, Richard Azurdia and J. Ed Araiza in The Little King of Norwalk (Photo: Grettel Cortes Photography)

In the snappy satire The Little King of Norwalk, corrupt politicians of a small suburban Southern California city are duped into believing that a shiftless homeboy is really a state inspector sent to investigate a local scandal.

The public outcry erupted when the city banned shelters, supportive housing, and businesses serving the poor – a misguided clean-up effort that local leaders thought would secure their positions of privilege.

When Javi (Xavi Moreno) shows up at City Hall for an AA meeting, the mayor, city manager, chief of police, and school superintendent mistake him for the state official they were forewarned about.

Javi willingly accepts their wining, dining, and bribing until in a moment of conscience he exposes their perfidy and atones for his part in it.

This over-the-top burlesque by Israel López Reyes is filled with biting humor and razor-sharp local references.

The play clearly owes a debt to the Gogol classic The Inspector General, but also to the spirit, style, and viewpoint of Teatro Campesino, who’s seminal work in the 1970s launched the Chicano theater movement.

The Little King of Norwalk is funny, brashly performed by a fine cast, especially Esperanza América as the local activist who arouses public opposition to the conniving city leaders. Geoffrey Rivas has directed efficiently and purposefully.

Rama Orleans-Lindsay and Rogelio Douglas III in Mascogos (Photo: Grettel Cortes Photography)

Mascogos, on another stage in the downtown theatre complex, is a different thing altogether. The dense drama, a new work by Miranda González, is a generational, spiritual epic about the underground railroad that brought runaway slaves from Florida and Georgia to Mexico.

The story starts in 1864 in Mexico and shifts back and forth to contemporary Chicago. Although the Mexican government promised land and a better life to enslaved Black Americans, eighteen-year-old Jamari (Rogelio Douglas III) finds life in his small village harsh.

Jamari longs for an education and more opportunity. Eventually he hopes to return to the U.S., against the advice of his younger cousin, Gechu (Rama Orleans–Lindsay).

Flash forward to Chicago today, where Jamari and Gechu (now Trudy) harbor the same dreams and face the same frustrations to achieving them. What has improved for African Americans in the last 150 years? Not that much.

Gonzalez interleaves scenes from both eras to weave an elegiac spell brimming with poetry and striking imagery. She is aided by José Luis Valenzuela’s flowing, sympathetic direction and Xinyuan Li’s expressive lighting design.

The Little King of Norwalk and Mascogos could not be less alike in tone, structure, or artistic approach, and yet the two productions testify to the important multi-cultural work The Latino Theater Company offers season after season.

"The Little King of Norwlak” and "Mascogos" Latino Theater Company, 514 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles CA 90013, (213) 489-0994, latinotheaterco.org