Review: Three Bone Theatre’s ‘Electridad’ sparks but never catches fire
A barrio, a body and a woman in mourning.
This is how we’re greeted at the beginning of “Electridad,” the latest play from Charlotte’s Three Bone Theatre and the second leg of a trilogy of Luis Alfaro-penned retellings of Greek classics that the company is putting on.
Hunched and retching over her slain father is Electridad (Melissa Lozada), writhing at onlookers and passersby. Her abuela (Banu Valladares) tells her younger sister Ifigenia (Michelle Medina Villalon) that she has not left the front yard and the body since the two of them swiped it from the funeral home with abuelita on the wheel of the hearse.
There’s mourning and then there is obsession and Electridad is teetering off the edge of the latter. When the moon rises, she yells to her father’s body about vengeance – against her mother Clemencia (Isabel Gonzalez) and anyone else who stands in her way or disrupts her process.
Pulled from Sophocles’ “Electra,” Alfaro swaps Mycanea for Los Angeles, and dispensing with King Agamennon for the patriarch of a family seeped in rich Chicano heritage. As Electridad wails for justice, her brother Orestes spends his time in exile with Nino (Luis Medina), a move made by his late father in probable anticipation of his demise.
He trains his body and his mind on what it means to be cholo, but the words just echo rather than taking shape.
Lozada is exceptional in the lead role, delivering lines like flames being etched in the sky. When she speaks to others, especially Clemencia, she wields them like a knife. In a pivotal scene in the middle of the play, Clemencia pleads, and then demands, for her daughter to return inside and come to peace with her father’s death.
It’s fireworks.
Words slice and dice, every final blow becomes a resurgence. Gonzalez as Clemencia shifts from maternal into villain before our eyes while Lozada holds her ground as fiercely as she’s been throughout the entire production. It’s the best display of the entire performance.
While moments like this make the production of “Electridad” compelling to watch, everything around it keeps you at arms length. The rest of Three Bone’s 13th season has enveloped you into a space, whether familiar or not, to the point that you’ve felt released when the curtains close.
It was tough to feel that with “Electridad.” It’s a different mode – a Greek classic maybe doesn’t have the intimacy of the more recent works performed during the season. It’s a story of death, revenge and better vengeance – we’re not supposed to leave with catharsis.
But I do think we should leave with a sense of place. The characters feel connected by strings and a cohesive group doesn’t seem to exist outside of familial lines. Moments feel bottled and some narrative flow becomes flimsy because of that. It gets lost too much in the assumed rather than what is actually on the stage.
It’s held together by the acting as yet another incredible performance from Banu Valladares this season. She’s given a lot more texture than when we last saw her in “Mary Jane” and a lot more to work with, and she completely sells it. The Greek chorus, substituted for the women living around the barrio, brings a distinct touch as well.
“Electridad” captivated at times, but never sticks with you afterwards as much as I would’ve liked. It’s Three Bone so it’s more than well worth your time, but I did come way dreaming more of what is to come in season 14 than what I sat with that night.
‘Electridad’
Running from Aug. 15-31. Shows on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets are $30 if bought in advance, $35 if purchased at the door and $15 for students and educators.
Buy tickets and learn more at threebonetheatre.com
More arts coverage
Want to see more stories like this? Sign up here for our free, award-winning “Inside Charlotte Arts” newsletter: charlotteobserver.com/newsletters. And you can join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” by going here: facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts.
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 12:48 PM.
