Do You Speak Mexican

Core Theatre Group is bringing a lively, two-part evening to Warwick that pairs “Flying Lessons” by Chris Perez with “Do You Speak Mexican?” by Elena Maria Garcia, two solo comedies built around family, identity, and the search for home. The performances are set for May 15-17 at Forge 28 Studio.

Core Theatre Group describes the evening as a duo-monologue event featuring two solo plays about family and finding home, giving the audience a chance to move from one perspective to another in a single night. That structure can make the evening feel intimate and immediate, like being invited into two different conversations that speak to each other across the stage.

Chris Perez and Flying Lessons

Core Theatre Group’s season pairs him with Garcia on “Do You Speak Mexican?” and notes that “Flying Lessons” will share the bill, underscoring that both artists are central to the production’s identity. Perez brings a different but complementary energy to the evening. “I remember one night my dad told me he always wanted to be a pilot, but when he came to this country, he had to work so hard to provide for our family that he threw that dream away. In a way, I wanted to make that dream come alive somehow. So with ‘Flying Lessons’ I’m basically retelling my dad’s story,” he revealed. “What happened in Cuba at that time is that conditions forced my father to leave, because you either joined the Communist party or you were thrown in jail,” continued Perez.

The result is a program that balances Garcia’s culturally specific storytelling with Perez’s comedic sensibility, creating a night that can be funny, warm, and emotionally resonant without becoming heavy-handed. Perez has spent decades refining how audiences respond in real time. His experience in stand-up and comedy writing means he knows exactly where humor lands, how to sharpen a line, and how to reveal truth through laughter without diluting it.

Elena Maria Garcia’s force

Garcia is a particularly strong draw because her career has long lived at the intersection of language, culture, humor, and performance. She is a four-time Carbonell Award winner, and she has been described as one of the funniest women to ever step onstage. Her solo work, including “Do You Speak Mexican?”, has been associated with the lived experience of a first-generation Cuban American in South Florida, where questions of identity and belonging are shaped by both comedy and cultural pressure.

Garcia discussed the moment that became a creative catalyst for her: “What prompted me to write this play was watching John Leguizamo’s solo performance, ‘Freak.’ When I saw ‘Freak,’ it was the first time I saw a Latino on stage. I said, ‘Wait a minute. He told that story. I could tell that story, too.’ My story is important, too. Because of him and that particular show, I was inspired. I would play that show to all of my students for years, and they would sit there in awe because it was the first time they had seen someone like themselves on stage.”

Garcia’s background also gives the piece unusual theatrical authority. Garcia has moved across stage, television, film, and improvisation, and her history includes helping create an all-female improv troupe and a Spanish-only short-form improv group, experience that suits a play built on timing, spontaneity, and the textures of bilingual life. That combination of precision and playfulness should make her performance especially engaging for audiences who appreciate comedy that carries real emotional weight.