A Cat Named Mercy Play Summary

In Josefina Lopez’s amazing play “A Cat Named Mercy” performed at CASA 0101 in Los Angeles, Lopez does a great job along with the actors and theatrical staff to produce a play that reflects the real life struggles of undocumented immigrants, the health care system in America, race relations, and poverty. The performance includes actors Alex Ximenez, Beatriz E. Vasquez, Blanca Araceli, Michael Cota and is directed by Hector Rodriquez. The theme of the show is to show how millions of people in the U.S. suffer without the help and benefits of health insurance.
Hector Rodriguez does a great job at directing the story of Catalina Rodriguez (Alex X) a single nurse who is struggling to care for and support her mother (Blanca A), who is blind, undocumented and uninsured. Catalina soon learns that she is sick and is in need of an expensive operation that she can’t pay for. While working at a retirement home she sees what people go through before they die. Throughout

the performance Catalina meets a cat during her most difficult times and the cat helps with all the stress and pain in her life. I found the story to be interesting because it showed how the life of many people without health insurance is difficult and stressful. The parts of the story that worked best were the ones that included Catalina trying to do several things in life and having to deal with all the pain and the story kept me interested and yes there was long scenes with a lot of talking that weren’t relevant to the story but the story itself had a meaning.

There was one moment where I

felt mad when Catalina found out she was ill, but she couldn’t do anything about it because her health insurance at work was cancelled and her hours shortened and another scene made me happy when she did everything possible to keep her mother happy and didn’t tell her she was sick but despite all the trouble she was facing she was comforted by the cat. The production was trying to send multiple messages to the audience including how racism still exists and the problem with health insurance and how difficult it is to live in America for undocumented immigrants.
The main character Catalina Rodriguez was played by Alex Ximenez and she did a great job throughout the whole play. Beatriz E. Vasquez was the one that controlled the cat, dressed in black she had her hand up the back of the puppet cat moving it around and making cat noises, she did a good job also controlling the cat considering there is much you can do. Sometimes her facial expressions would show what the cat was feeling. Their voices and gestures stayed true to the performance and it didn’t feel like they were acting it felt like it was kind of real but what I liked most about the actors was how they were able to present all the emotions wonderfully that their characters were feeling.
The set would change during each scene, one was Catalina’s house where she took care of her mother, the other was the retirement home and another was outside on the streets.

The retirement home included a bed, receptionist desk, and table and chair and looked close to what you see in hospitals and homes for old people. The street scene included a stop sign garbage cans a building door and an outline of a sidewalk. The lighting was good it was nice and bright and would change often show the moods of the characters. The costumes looked exactly like what people in hospitals wear and and the other actors like the old patients wore what you see old people wearing in today’s world. The sound was right also and felt scary too sometimes because it sounded to real when the actors would scream and cry and

laugh.
This was my first play that I had ever gone to and I loved everything about it. It was different than what you see on television because when the actors were right their in front of me it felt like I was right their experiencing their lives and the sounds you hear also isn’t like when sitting in front of a TV, it’s loud at some points and low at others and your emotions are a lot stronger because it isn’t happening behind a screen it’s right therein front of you and that’s what I loved most was the different emotions I felt throughout the performance. I would definitely recommend this play to a friend or family member. In fact I saw it with my sister and she loved it also. Judging by the looks on the audience’s faces I think they liked it too.