Berkshire on Stage

Who doesn’t love a mystery? Honestly, me. But I could not help but be drawn into Dead Girl’s Quinceañera by Phanesia Pharel premiering at Barrington Stage Company. We are immediately confronted with the disappearance of Maria who has not been seen since her quinceanera, or Latin American celebration of a fifteenth birthday, the night before. What happened to her?

Maria’s friend, Salma (Jacqueline Guillén) is immediately on the case determined to find motive and clues to solve this mystery. Speaking like a detective on a procedural, Salma engages her two peers, Este (Carmen Berkeley), a Latina, and Phoebe (Ariana Burks), an Afro-Latina and Maria’s cousin. At times, Salma interrogates them as if they are both suspects. Salma puts facts on a bulletin board, having the audience believe we are watching a True Crime story taking place in Miami.

At the same time, Salma is reluctantly preparing for her fancy ‘coming out’ party, while Phoebe has already had her celebration. Pharel’s play deals with coming-of-age in the Latina community, with each character giving a soliloquy about what this occasion means to her. Issues of sexuality, race, parental divorce and loss, and friendship take on different levels of importance for each young woman. Salma’s family is the most financially comfortable of the three. Este questions whether her family can afford a quinceanera celebration. While jealousy exists among the three characters, each fears that Maria has met with a disastrous fate. All work tirelessly to uncover what or who is responsible for Maria’s disappearance.

Although the mystery is solved by the end of the play, the reason for Maria’s disappearance has been used too often in drama. Nothing new is added to this devastating but well-worn trope. Neither is there any resolution for Maria’s issues.

What is different in Pharel’s drama is the energy injected into each character telling the story, as if we are watching a telenovela. Pharel’s love of “watching and reading the missing and dead girl genre of mysteries,” as written in the program, comes through Salma’s excitement in playing detective as if she is performing for an audience. In fact, Este, Phoebe, and Salma all play different suspects, while playing themselves, as the mystery unfolds.

Berkley, as Este, exhibits the most dimensions of the three friends, showing her multiple sides. While somewhat subservient and meek with Salma, she gives a wonderful monolog describing her hoped for quinceanera, imagining the greatest night of her life which she will have all to herself. “You get married, you have to share that with a man. You give birth, everyone is focused on the baby. I’m not getting ripped off! I get ONE night. All my life. I’ve had to share everything.”

Guillen gives Salma attitude and confidence, showing off the politician she hopes to become, and her strong feminist commitment. She shows her vulnerability confessing her feelings for Este. She makes us laugh, referring to how everyone wants her to be Salma Hayek, but she admits she is nothing like her, and nowhere near as appealing.

Burks gives a fine performance as Phoebe and allows her jealousy of her cousin to come through, resulting in her mixed feelings about Maria’s disappearance. Her struggle with being part Haitian highlights another concern regarding skin-color in the Latina population.

While the three teen-aged friends are not actually played by teens, they do show great chemistry as tight friends with shared verbal expressions, exhibiting adolescent joy and angst.

The late arrival in the play of Maria (Andrea Ferro) provides little time to get a good sense of who she is, as we try to reconcile her presence with what we have already heard about her.

Director Melia Bensussen, a Latina raised in Mexico City and award-winning Artistic Director of Hartford Stage, proves to be a perfect choice to lead this play as it continues to develop. Along with Lighting Designer, Dan Kotlowitz and Sound Designer, Salvador Zamora, Bensussen effectively adds audio and lights to go in and out of the television procedural, allowing the audience to experience both the story and the television drama. Before and throughout the play, we hear Hispanic music playing, often in the way music is used in television programs to accent a conflict or express the mood.

Scenic Designer, Sara Brown successfully creates a hangout/bedroom for teen girls, complete with posters and ribbon medals, and a big bulletin board. This same set is easily transformed into a flashy party venue towards the play’s conclusion.

Costume Designer, Raquel Adorno dresses the actors in teen outfits appropriate to the Latina culture, while creating fabulous ball gowns, easily taken on and off for their dancing at the quinceanera, choreographed by Mayte Natalio.

Pharel’s play is moving next to the Goodman Theater in Chicago and finishes its’ premiere at Hartford Stage. While the conclusion of this drama, which is filled with humor, is less than satisfying, the witty dialog and excellent performances carry Dead Girls’ Quinceañera as it continues to evolve. The premise is fun and clever. We appreciate new work being celebrated at Barrington Stage, as this is the third of four original plays seen this summer. I look forward to the fourth!

Barrington Stage Company presents Phanesia Pharel’s Dead Girls’ Quinceañera, directed by Melia Bensussen, on the St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, Linden Street in Pittsfield, MA, from August 5-29, 2026. CAST: Carmen Berkley, Ariana Burks, Andrea Ferro, Jacqueline Guillén. CREATIVE TEAM: Choreographer Mayte Natalio; Scenic Designer Sara Brown; Lighting Designer Dan Kotlowitz; Sound Designer Salvador Zamora; Costume Designer Raquel Adorno; Hair, Wig & Make-Up Designer Alexis Pouncy; Dialect Coach Cynthia Santos DeCure; Associate Director Ludmila de Brito; Associate Scenic Designer Daniel Prosky; Production Stage Manager Nicole Wiegert; Assistant Stage Manager Julius Cruz; Alldaffer & Donadio Casting Pat McCorkle, CA, Lauren Port, CSA.

Tickets for Dead Girl’s Quinceañera are available through the Barrington Stage Company Box Office at barringtonstageco.org or by calling (413) 236-8888.