#torera

“Day’s Pay Is $2,000 For Girl Toreador,” Toronto Star. May 12, 1941. Page 2. ---- Veteran bullfighter of international fame is 18-year-old Conchita Cintron. Born of a father who graduated from the U.S. military academy and a mother who is a United States citizen, Conchita started her bullfighting career at 13. She gets $2,000 for an afternoon’s performance.

half naked bullfighter girls are my inkktober #3 and #4

Torera

October 9, 2025 | Off-Broadway | WP Theater | Evening | Play | Original | 1H 30M

Having seen a free reading of this way back in January, I'm amazed at how my standards soar once money exchanges hands. As a free reading, I was complimentary towards the playwright's depiction of the young characters. But I said it then, and I'm saying it now: this is meant for a book or a movie. The choreography used to depict the bullfighting is certainly creative, but too timid and stylistic to ever really evoke the proper nail-biting mood. The director never fully committed to her choice in how to indicate a significant time shift. For most of them, flowers would appear and drape over the side of the house facade, but there were at least two instances of time skips where it was just sort of forgotten.

Little changed between reading and production, despite the several month interlude, and the dialogue for the adults never improved beyond tired archetypes. In fact, while the setting and concept shows a lot of unique promise, the actual pieces of the story are tired old cliches. Rich boy befriends the help's daughter and there's class resentment. Single mother raising a headstrong daughter. Boy and girl fall in love. Oops, boy and girl are actually half-siblings. This is like the third or fourth time I've seen this formula used on stage this year alone. I'm tired of it. It's boring. It's lazy. And frankly, the story does a whole lot to tell you that this girl is a talented bullfighter, and nothing to really prove it. The performances were all fine enough, but never rose to the occasion to be something memorable. My biggest praise has to go to the set design. A simple, yet effective, house facade with flowers and vines. I love flowers and vines.

Verdict: Enjoyable, But Left No Lasting Impression

Torera

January 13, 2025 | WP Theatre | Evening | Reading | Special | 1H 45M

Went to a free reading at WP Theatre for this up-and-coming play about a young woman who makes it as a female bullfighter. The way it's written, especially in the stage directions, makes it feel more suited to a film. The play had a full staging in the past, and based on the photos, it does look like it could be done really well, but it just seems like film would be a more effective and visceral (and expensive...) medium.

The playwright does a phenomenal job in executing the early dialogue between the characters as young children. The protagonist is at a strong place. But much of the dialogue for the older parent characters is stilted and seems more functional than grounded like the young people are. They exist as more archetypes of Emotionally Distant Father and Worrywart Mother, and when they speak, it's always imparting some kind of "life lesson" that never lands because of how inauthentic it sounds. Maybe it's a problem with the actors not conveying the text well, but I don't think that's the case. There are a few attempts to give the older characters more of a backstory by going into their past, but even those scenes aren't as strong and authentic as the scene between the younger pair.

I enjoyed the story and found it engaging, but it falls apart too often. But as far as free readings go, I can't complain.

Verdict: A Lovely Night