NY Fringe Festival Review: Just Don't Touch Me, Amigo

Just Don't Touch Me, Amigo
Presented by: Fernando Gambaroni
Writer: Fernando Gambaroni
Director: Jose Zayas

Summary:
Pedro (Fernando Gambaroni) is newly arrived from Buenos Aires in New York and looks for a place to live, a job, a chance to be famous and friends. Gambaroni, the author, also plays the parts of people he meets along the way: a secretary who helps him get an interview and a date (he plays David, the date too), the Hispanic guy who interviews him and a religious fanatic with mental issues riding the subway.

Each of the interactions reveals how people aren’t all that willing to help or befriend him. They especially don’t want him to touch them. Pedro isn’t comfortable with revealing his ethnicity or speaking Spanish.

“People like to create a whole picture with only a fraction of the information,” he explains.

He shares his experiences through telephone conversations with Pepito at home. He eventually seems to morph into a different person, having joined some sort of church. He heads off to work (at a job he incredulously gets after getting into a fight with the interviewer) and tells Pepito he has discovered that his homosexual lifestyle was a choice he made to anger his parents.

Highlights:
• Pedro’s ending reflections on being lonely and deciding not to turn bitter
• Gambaroni does a nice job creating the various characters.

Lowlights:
Hum in the AC unit of the building

Christians might also like to know:
• Homosexuality
• Language

Fringe Tassels Awarded: 2.0

VENUE #7: manhattan theatre source
The run has ended