SpeakEasy's 'Laughs in Spanish' is a good time in any language

For those in need of a lift, Alexis Scheer’s “Laughs in Spanish” is it. The lighthearted comedy kicking off SpeakEasy Stage Company’s 34th season (through Oct. 12) focuses on Miami art gallery owner Mariana, Mari for short, who is stressed out when artwork goes missing just before Art Basel.

Though the theft seems to be the tension of the play the audience quickly learns that the real issue is the relationship between Mari (Rebekah Rae Robles) and her movie star mother Estella, a commanding and hilarious Paola Ferrer (who was excellent as Gertrude in Teatro Chelsea and Apollinaire Theatre Company’s “Hamlet”). Ferrer’s Estella glides onto the stage with a tipped fedora and a tinge of narcissism.

Estella’s developed a TV show that she’s starring in to breathe new life into her career and is in town because her manager said it would be good for her brand to be in Miami enjoying Art Basel with her daughter (unbeknownst to Mari). However, Estella wants to help her daughter sort out the mess. Mari isn’t keen to let her mom, who was missing in action when she was growing up, help save the day. When Mari does ask her mom to sweep the gallery floor, Estella looks deliciously appalled.

In the meantime, Mari’s assistant Caro (Luz Lopez), who’s an art student, offers up her paintings for the show with the enthusiastic support of her cop boyfriend Juan (Daniel Rios Jr.), and Mari romantically reconnects with Estella’s assistant Jenny (Brogan Nelson) on a foliage-filled deck conceived by Erik D. Diaz while reminiscing about the past.

According to the show’s program notes, Scheer, who has written for the stage, TV, and film, was a former student of SpeakEasy’s founder and artistic director Paul Daigneault’s at the Boston Conservatory. Scheer’s work includes her breakout play “Our Dear Dead Drug Lord” about a group of American teenagers trying to summon the spirit of Pablo Escobar before the 2008 election, and HBO Max’s “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.” (This is Daigneault's last season as artistic director.)

Despite whatever is happening drama-wise in “Laughs in Spanish,” which is joyfully directed by Mariela López-Ponce (“Don’t Eat the Mangos”), the play seems to center relationships. Mari and Estella need to figure out how to bury the hatchet and be together, Juan and Caro look to figure out how to move forward in their relationship, and Mari and Jenny need to make space in their lives to see if the sparks between them will turn into a lasting fire. In the middle of all that, there is laughter, lots of Spanglish (which is great for those of us who studied Spanish but haven’t used enough of it lately to be proficient), code-switching and dancing to the late, great Celia Cruz, among others. The Cuban-born López-Ponce, a founder and co-artistic director of Teatro Chelsea, was raised in Miami. She was attracted to the play because it captures the “vibrancy, culture, and spirit of the place.”

The brightly colored outfits, especially Jenny’s jumpsuit, courtesy of Rebecca Glik, sound from Anna Drummond, and lighting and props by Amanda Fallon and Emilia Amador certainly add to the dynamism López-Ponce speaks of.

There’s no big deal made of getting the art back on the gallery’s empty walls, and Mari and Estella’s reconciliation isn’t a huge to do, but what “Laughs in Spanish” does provide is a nice break from the heaviness of life. Here an audience member can sway to “Bésame Mucho,” dance to “Quimbara,” and enjoy the fun and laughter.

SpeakEasy Stage Company’s “Laughs in Spanish” runs through Oct. 12 at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion.