Los Big Names

Marga Gomez’s newest solo play Los Big Names is an autobiographical play set in two eras: the New York Latin show business world of the ’60s and Hollywood of the ’90s. It follows the lives of an unconventional Latino family of three pursuing their dreams of fame and fortune. Ms. Gomez’s fate was sealed at a young age when her parents, Cuban comedian Willy Chevalier and Puerto-Rican dancer Margarita, gave her a bit part on the stage of one of New York’s legendary Teatros. The author uses her later misadventures on the set of Barry Levinson’s science-fiction flop Sphere of 1998 as a counterpoint to the aspirations and lives of her parents.

Ms. Gomez portrays her mom, dad, the bodega busybody, Queen Latifah, Kathleen Turner, and all of the vivid characters in this wild but true tale interweaving a moving family saga with an all-out skewering of celebrity. David Schweizer directs.