←Recommendations of I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja

A tour de force of heightened language, theology, and raw political anger at an island and a culture abandoned to the elements. A powerful voice.

I had the extreme delight of having one of my plays read in a short play festival with "I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja" through the Off-Key Anthem Theater Collective in Chicago, and since then I still periodically think of how effortlessly Diaz-Marcano blends incredibly vivid storytelling with beautiful rhythmic prose. Leslie's story, one of faith, identity, and tragedy, is one that needs to be told far and wide. I am incredibly honored to have heard it, and even more proud to recommend it.

An epic and intimate play that explores gender identity, faith, and how we deal with a world in pain and destruction. Diaz-Marcano's writing is beautifully poetic and economic, and he gives the director a lot of opportunities for creative staging. The message of the play is important, to: That we may want an entity to ease our burdens, but ultimately we are enough. Gorgeous play.

"I saw Jesus in Gurabo. And he gave me a ham and cheese sandwich."
Lovely. Just lovely. Diaz-Marcano gives us a hell of a hero in Leslie and a beautiful story of faith in the midst of the hardest of hard times. This play gives us so many perspectives that are sadly underserved in theater, that I think audiences hunger for. The tale here is much like its Jesus: Patiently welcoming, yet firm in what is right. It's so easy to lean back, let Nelson's words take you by the hand and bring you along for the experience.

Okay. Are you reading and producing Nelson's work? Hello? Is this thing on? Can you hear me? This play is a prime example of why Diaz-Marcano has such a brilliant voice in contemporary theatre: This play is warm, funny, accessible — Cool, and hip and irreverent — This play is dead sexy, and sacred, all in one. Read it, put it on the stage. Please. This is why theatre exists.

This is a ridiculously beautiful play of hope in horror, of faith in something even when a world is dying, of something having faith in you when you have none in yourself, and of being needed in a place of great need. Disaster and religion as magical realism, as a kind of slam poetry of storm, are the center of this tale where Jesus appears first walking on flood waters with a Big Gulp and some navigation directions. And what initially seems not enough turns out to be absolutely sufficient.

The verse employed in this modern day folk tale gives the story a driving rhythm that immediately draws you in... we’re on the journey with Leslie for the whole ride. JC’s running gag/perfectly timed entrances offer just the right amount of humor to offset the grim necessity for his presence. Diaz-Marcano is a proven playwright, but this piece definitely shows his chops as a poet too.

This play seems to be asking these questions - How do you move beyond anger, fear, hopelessness? What does faith look like if you do not believe in God ("the father")? What does it take to be the greatest version of yourself? These questions can be re-worded and asked about all islanders - or any people, community, city that has lost so much to a natural disaster or any tragedy. Diaz-Marcano is creating at a confident pace a dynamic body of post-Hurricane Maria drama that deserves attention by artistic directors RIGHT NOW! He's always writing necessary stories for the stage.