Set in the South Bronx in 1982, Michael Mejias’ Ghetto Babylon follows the dilemmas 14-year-old Charlie Rosa encounters one August. Charlie is poor but ambitious, dealing with the recent loss of his mother and the expectations of his two best friends. The three boys are passionate about baseball, and as the summer wears on, they advance through an important tournament; winning will assure them some black and gold jackets and instant respect from the upperclassmen at their new high school. Charlie is perfectly pleased until he receives a letter awarding him acceptance to Phillips Exeter Academy, an opportunity he would be crazy not to take…but that would also require him to miss the championship game and let his friends down.
The next two hours are filled with Charlie’s confused musings, a budding romance, and a little too much baseball. Talia Marrero as Sarafina, Charlie’s love interest, and Sean Carvajal as Spec, one of Charlie’s best friends, are really the standouts of the cast. Carvajal imbues his abrasive character with humor and compassion, and Marrero’s role parodies the stereotypical South Bronx girl without dehumanizing her. The play makes use of a few famous novels, most notably The Catcher in the Rye, to urge along the plot; Holden Caulfield actually appears as a character in the production, red hat and all.
Photo by Lisa Silberman
Ghetto Babylon could be more economical in terms of time, but it does raise a lot of interesting questions about class tension, ambition, and loyalty. Charlie must learn to balance the impending changes in his life while staying true to his roots. The space itself is very intimate, with seats situated on two sides; the audience is so close that it is possible to read the titles on Charlie’s bookshelf (seeing Ulysses there definitely made me feel bad about my own reading habits).
Ghetto Babylon is playing through this Sunday, August 18th. Tickets are $18 general admission and $12.50 for members. To buy: call TicketCentral at 212-279-4200 or go to www.ticketcentral.com.
