If you've ever worked in any kind of industry serving the public, this play will hit close to home. If you've ever worked in an amusement park or put on a ridiculous costume as a source of employment, you will feel seen. Perez deftly crafts the struggles of every day survival in a way that toes the line between hilarious and tragic. The characters are so relatable and three dimensional; without being didactic we see how everyone is just trying to get through the day, at the mercy of gentrification. A must see.

This is a play that is equal parts anti-capitalist screed and touching character study. Within its short runtime Alex finds room for discussing the difficulties of care work, the complexity of Cuban-American identity, and the weirdly edifying process of putting on a giant rat costume. I also got to see Alex himself in the lead role, and the guy can act, too! Unfair, I say.

I was fortunate enough to see this play at IRT. A warm-hearted, slyly funny, and deeply human story, this slice-of-life takes us into the lives of a group of employees at a scrappy amusement park and explores not only their dreams and desires, but why they choose to stay in a less-than-ideal working environment. Many scenes took me back to grunt jobs I used to work, specifically the scheduling conflicts. The final scenes are a devastating exercise in dramatic irony, especially because you’ve come to care about these characters so much. Wonderful play!