Audiences Are Part of The Party In ‘Sweet 15 My Quinceañera’

Rene Lavan plays a deadbeat dad and Lauren Lopez is his resentful daughter in “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera!,” which opens in previews on Saturday, July 20 through Sunday, Sept. 22 at The Hub at Temple Beth Am,  Pinecrest. (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

After years of long-running success of the interactive off-Broadway play “Tony ‘N’ Tina’s Wedding,” that ran for 22 years and which brought audiences into the dysfunctional family Italian American wedding, it was only a matter of time before we got a Latino party play.

“Sweet 15 My Quinceañera” is the latest audience-immersive play to join the fold.  It’s Sonora’s Sweet 15 party, but she’s 22 years old. She didn’t have her “quince” after Miami family patriarch Eddy Valderrama, played by Rene Lavan, left his family when his daughter was just about to turn 15.

From left, Roberto Escobar, Lauren Lopez, and Rene Lavan in Rick Najera’s new interactive play “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera!” (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

“She’s missed her quinceañera because her father gambled away all of his money and now, he wants to make it up to her,” says Lavan.

The show had a limited run in Miami last April, but now opens with a newly revised production at The Hub at Temple Beth Am, a 514-seat theater in Pinecrest, in previews on Saturday, July 20 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 22.

Written by Rick Najera, who wrote and starred in “Latinologues on Broadway,” which was directed by Cheech Marin of the duo “Cheech & Chong,” and played on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 2005, Najera describes “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera” as a play about all kinds of celebrations.

“It celebrates family, it celebrates forgiveness, and it’s about seeing the human condition. It’s very funny, but there are real stories happening between the lines. I think it also has heart because it really is about my family. You’ll see aspects of my family throughout the play,” says Najera, who grew up as a Mexican American in San Diego, Calif., and says he could see Mexico from his house.

Rick Najera wrote the interactive play “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera!” after becoming a father, he says. (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

Lavan had worked with Najera in “Latinologues,” which began in Los Angeles, he says, in a 99-seat theater. “We decided to take that on tour together,” he says. The pair teamed up again when Lavan was cast in the Chicago try out of “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera” in 2023.

“The audiences there really liked it, so we said, ‘let’s regroup.’ We had already taken one show all the way to Broadway, so I said, ‘Let’s do ‘Sweet 15’ in my hometown of Miami.”

“Sweet 15 My Quinceañera” had a short run at Coral Gables wedding hall Renaissance in the Gables in April of 2024. They invited William “Willie” Fernandez, who is based in Miami, of Broadway Factor Productions, whose company (including Jim Kierstead and Deborah Ramirez) has produced Tony-nominated plays and also a movie shot in South Florida, “Borrowed,” which is now streaming on multiple platforms.

“Willie said, yes, we could take this all the way off Broadway, so that’s kind of the plan,” says Levan, who not only stars in the show but also became one of the producers during its Chicago run. The play also stars Ruben Rabasa, Melissa Ann Hubicsak, Lauren C. Lopez, Roberto Escobar, Randy Garcia, Margarita Coego, and Michael Ferreiro and is directed by Jesus Quintero.

Rubén Rabasa is an aging telenovela star and Lauren Lopez is a reluctant quinceañera in “Sweet 15.” (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

“There are a lot of references to the stuff that we, as Latinos, well, the way we think and the way we approach things and so you get a glance into this . . . madness of a Cuban American family and then there is the boyfriend, he’s Jewish. So, you have the Jewish perspective from Sonora’s boyfriend. You also have things that strike a chord – like the type of entertainment, the dances, the songs, so you get the flavor of what it’s like to go to an actual quinceañera.”

Najera wrote the play for his daughter, Sonora, he says. “This play kind of came out of me becoming a father,” says Najera. He recalls talking on the phone when the person on the other end of the line heard his young daughter in the background. “He said, “You’re going to throw her a quinceañera, right?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ Anyway, she was too young then.”

But Najera says it got him thinking about the tradition. “Some people are into quinceañeras and some are not, some people send their kids to Europe or something else.” He started writing a show built around an idea whose family didn’t celebrate the tradition with her on her fifteenth birthday and then says he had to figure out why.

“And the father comes back seven years later to throw (the party) and it goes terribly wrong.”

Did Najera throw his daughter a quinceañera?

“No, I actually sent her to Europe instead. But I do like the idea of the ceremony. In fact, we have women who have come to the show wearing their tiaras from their own parties. And they will come up and tell us that it was one of the happiest memories of their lives. Some of them say that was the day that they realized that their family really loved them, and they were so honored. For us, as Latinos, it’s a very particular Latin custom,” says Najera.

Margarita Coego is a zany mother-in-law in “Sweet 15.” (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

In Najera’s show, to make things up to his daughter for not being there, Valderrama now wants to throw the most extravagant celebration that money can buy.

“That’s what the character that Rene plays learns. That he didn’t have to do this to show his daughter that he loved her. He just had to be around and to be in her life.”

Lavan says he’s had the time of his life playing Eddy Valderrama. “We break the fourth wall constantly. We’re in the audience. We involve the audience as Sonora’s court at the quinceañera, the audience becomes the celebrity guests that I’ve hired. It’s a very interactive show.”

And whether you’ve had a quinceañera or have never been to a Sweet 15, Lavan says the show is relatable to anyone.

“The play is in English, but we throw a couple of words in Spanish to give it our flavor. It strikes a chord with any audience because of the idea of either throwing a party above and beyond what they can afford – families who go above and beyond to celebrate any holiday.”

Randy Garcia plays a disorganized party organizer in Rick Najera’s interactive play “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera!” (Photo courtesy of Ivonne Photos)

Through all the antics and over-the-top comedy in “Sweet 15,” Lavan says that Najera also makes sure that the message comes across.

“The message is about the meaning of family, about second chances, and about forgiveness,” says Lavan.

WHAT: “Sweet 15 My Quinceañera,” an interactive play by Rick Najera

WHERE: The Hub at Temple Beth Am, 5950 N. Kendall Drive, Pinecrest

WHEN: Preview Saturday, July 20, opening night, Sunday, July 21. Through Sunday, Sept. 22. Pre-show cocktails for purchase at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Saturday; pre-show cocktails at 4 p.m., showtime at 5 p.m., Sunday.

COST: $54 and $64 including fees

INFORMATION:  305-667-6667 or www.sweet15show.com

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