Photo scavenged from online.

Presented by Teatro Chelsea
by Matthew Barbot
Directed by Armando Rivera
Associate Director – Luz Lopez
Fight direction – Naomi Kim

October 31- November 22, 2025
Chelsea Theatre Works Blackbox
181 Winnisimmet Street
Chelsea, MA

Critique by Kitty Drexel

Estimated Runtime: 95min w/ no intermission

“Cuando a sus playas llegó Colón;
Exclamó lleno de admiración;
‘Oh!, oh!, oh!, esta es la linda
tierra que busco yo.’”
“When at her beaches Columbus arrived,
he exclaimed full of admiration:
‘Oh! Oh! Oh!
This is the beautiful land, that I seek.’”

– Taken from “La Borinqueña.” Lyrics by Manuel Fernández Juncos (1846-1928). Translation by Samuel Quiros. 

CHELSEA, Mass. —  The title of Matthew Barbot’s play, the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo), is derived from the lyrics of Puerto Rico’s national anthem, “La Borinqueña.” Parts Waiting for Godot and Snowpiercer (2013), the production asks what failed Puerto Rican nationalist assassins Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola would think of the United States’ appropriation of Puerto Rican culture through the decades. Was their sacrifice worth it? Who has taken up the mantle of independence since the event of their activism? Teatro Chelsea’s production is now running at Chelsea Theatre Works through November 22.

It’s 1950. Members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Oscar Collazo (Carlos Zalduondo) and Griselio Torresola (Nathaniel Justiniano), travel by train from New York to Washington, D.C. Their mission: to assassinate President Harry S. Truman (Alexander Crespo Rosaro II) in the name of Puerto Rican independence. They have two pistols and a conspiratorial Can-Do attitude. They intend to use their train trip to solidify their plans, but their fellow travelers (Ashley L. Aldarondo) keep interrupting Oscar and Griselio’s trip. Teatro Chelsea’s website says this play is “Loosely based on historical events and definitely based on recent ones, the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) is a funny, gripping rollercoaster ride through Puerto Rico’s relationship to the United States.” Director Rivera plays a poet with one foot in the future and the other in the present. 

TBLIS (LLTQBY) presents surrealist parody with science fiction elements. It punches up at famous white American depictions of Puerto Rican culture within a purgatorial environment.  Extravagant characters rampant through the play, speaking through mixed metaphors to fantastical effect. We meet a host of characters from Natalie Wood’s Maria from West Side Story to Lin Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton from that ‘lil musical he wrote. If that sounds like a lot to absorb, it is. 

But the cast and crew of TBLIS (LLTQBY) make it all make sense. With Rivera’s intuitive staging, Naomi Kim’s accurate and practical fight direction, and the cast’s dedication to Barbot’s capricious script, the audience is led on a merry chase through time and space. Their ensemble work is impeccable. Without divulging too much lest I spoil the plot, Aldarondo and Crespo Rosaro give us goofy and lovable impersonations of history and pop culture’s famous figures, such as Cristopher Columbus as a pervy baby. Justiniano and Zalduondo work so well together, their characters are so in sync – were it not for the laws of the 1950s – you might think Oscar and Gris were married… Married to the fight for independence! 

Historical Brownface occurs in this play. Barbot uses it to poke fun at racist assumptions about the skin color of Puerto Rican citizens. It works in tandem with a stereotypically oblivious white Chad-Karen couple that barges in on Oscar and Gris’s most vulnerable moments. Neither depiction is meant to be taken seriously. But, if you’re a snowflake, maybe close your eyes or something. TBLIS (LLTQBY) is a laugh a minute event you shouldn’t miss. 

Puerto Rico’s other national anthem.

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