You probably already know that real women have curves. But in case you’d forgotten—understandable given our perfect-body, image-obsessed culture—Teatro Luna’s loveable and lusty Latinas are ready to remind you of this, as well as to spice up your idea of what it really means to be sexual or sexy or female or Latina with “S-E-X-Oh!,” an enjoyable and undeniably crowd-pleasing collection of monologues and sketches performed by a S-E-X-tet of talented young Hispanas with conviction and warmth to spare. Based on and culled from extensive writing sessions by the performers and other company members over the last year, the dozen or so vignettes—with such cheeky titles as “Breasts, Barrio Boys & Bullshit” and “The Divine Secrets of the Salsa Sisterhood,” for example—are ultimately more charming than challenging and, of the panoply of picante characters offered, only one, a Shakespearean-trained, Chicana phone-sex operator who thinks her colleagues should read “An Actor Prepares” (comedic and compassionate handling by Tanya Saracho) is truly memorable. Still, the evening sizzles thanks to the larger-than-life personalities of the performers, with 5’1″ pint-sized spitfire Belinda Cervantes and robust Yadira “biblical stories make me hot” Correa especially apt at taking anything they’re given and kicking it up a notch or two from routine to red-hot. If “S-E-X-Oh!” fails to impart anything new on its subject matter, this otherwise successful venture into the realm of caliente chitchat between performer and audience proves that sometimes how you say something can be just as entertaining as what you say. (Fabrizio O. Almeida)
Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago, (773) 878-LUNA. Thu 7:30pm (1/26, 2/02, 2/09 & 2/16 only)/Fri – Sat 8pm/Sun 3pm. $10-$15. Through Feb 19th.
