Jose

José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.

There’s a dramatically prominent Angel (Taylor Scott) as well in Rivera’s drama, now in an Open Fist Theater Company revival at Atwater Village Theatre. This celestial warrior has been protecting Marisol (Jade Santana) without her knowing it throughout her life. Marisol, referred to by a publishing colleague as “Miss Puerto Rican Yuppy Princess of the Universe,” still lives in the Bronx and is assailed by dangers just getting to and from work every day.

After an incident on the subway with a deranged man threatening her with a golf club, Marisol returns to her cramped, noisy apartment to learn that her guardian angel is abandoning her to enlist in the battle to replace a senile God, who (to judge by the ailing state of the universe) has grown too old for the job.

Jack Sharpe and Jade Santana in ‘Marisol’ at Open Fist.

(John Dlugolecki)

Marisol will have to fend for herself in New York, a dystopian landscape where crime is rampant, poverty is pervasive and the unhoused are threatened by roving gangs of Nazi skinheads who set them on fire for kicks.

What follows is a modern picaresque journey, in which a clever underdog has to rely on her wit and wiles to survive a corrupt and perilous world. Rivera’s play, which won an Obie Award, caught fire in its 1993 New York premiere at the Public Theater with its theatrical street sense, savage imagery and Puerto Rican-inflected magical realism.

The apocalyptic fears boiling up in the play are perhaps even more acutely felt today, with the ravages of climate change compounding each year and the threat of AI hanging an existential cloud over our heads.

But what’s most satisfying about this reencounter with “Marisol” is seeing a new generation embrace the play’s kinetic freedom. Rivera, who received an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay for the 2004 film “The Motorcycle Diaries,” solidified his reputation with this play after his breakthrough work “The House of Ramón Iglesia.”

Director Amanda Weier and her company approach “Marisol” as though it were a new play. The quicksilver changes of scene in this urban hellscape are handled with crisp dispatch. Subway cars and burned-out streets don’t require much in the way of elaborate illustration for the overhang of menace to be felt.

Occasionally, particularly in the early going, the blocking and Christopher Moscatiello’s sound design seemed to be working at cross-purposes. The production’s adventurousness, traversing every corner of Brad Bentz’s scenic design, can have a diffuse effect.

But the clever props design (Bruce Dickinson and Anna Krause) fills in any shoestring gaps. And Mylette Nora’s costumes artfully conjure both the underworld and the spiritual realm.

Jade Santana and Hutchins Foster in ‘Marisol’ at Open Fist.

(John Dlugolecki)

Santana’s Marisol, likable yet spiky, anchors the revival. Her interactions with the golf club maniac (Matthew Goodrich) and the scarred homeless man (Hutchins Foster) are fearfully intense, as they should be.

Grace Soens, who plays June, Marisol’s confederate at work, and Jack Sharpe, who takes on the role of Lenny, June’s mentally disturbed brother, expand this unstable world, where it’s hard to know who to trust.

“Marisol” is rife with ambiguity. One of the biggest questions is whether Marisol is dead or alive. But the surreal reality extends to the map of New York. Marisol can no longer tell if she is heading north or south. And the number of characters wielding golf clubs as deadly weapons raises the concern that the villains are interchangeable — and that the good guys have all fled.

One thing that’s certain is that Marisol will have to take up the fight for her own future. With no one left to protect her, she’s learning to look after herself and those she cares about. To become, in other words, the hero that’s needed to turn this momentous struggle around.

José Ramírez drove in five runs with three doubles, Steven Kwan had five singles and the streaking Cleveland Guardians overcame an early five-run deficit to beat the Angels 8-6 in 10 innings Tuesday night.

Kwan capped his second career five-hit game with a leadoff single in the 10th against reliever Blake Weiman (0-1), advancing automatic runner Brayan Rocchio from second base to third. Travis Bazzana popped out, but Ramírez laced a two-run double to left-center to give the Guardians an 8-6 lead.

Cleveland reliever Erik Sabrowski (5-2) struck out the side in the ninth. Cade Smith fanned Denzer Guzman and Adam Frazier with runners on second and third in the 10th for his 35th save, sealing the Guardians’ sixth straight win.

The Angels took a 6-5 lead on Vaughn Grissom’s second homer of the game, a solo shot off reliever Logan Allen leading off the fifth. The Guardians tied it 6-all in the eighth when Kwan singled and scored on Ramírez’s RBI double.

Cleveland center fielder Angel Martínez preserved the tie when he made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Mike Trout of a potential two-run homer to end the bottom of the eighth.

Angels starter Walbert Ureña gave up three runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking five. Guardians starter Gavin Williams was rocked for five runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings, his shortest start this season.

Grissom hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Angels pushed the lead to 5-0 in the second on Christian Moore’s solo homer, Guzman’s RBI double and Zach Neto’s RBI single.

Bazzana lined an RBI double to cut the deficit to 5-1 in the fourth, and Ramírez’s two-run double made it 5-3.

Cleveland tied it 5-all in the fifth on two-out RBI singles by Rocchio and Kwan.

José Alberto Suárez, a Telemundo executive, died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday in Kenya.

The 55-year-old — who was president and general manager of Telemundo 31, Telemundo 49 and Telemundo Ft. Myers-Naples — was among the seven deceased following an aircraft incident at Mt. Ololokwe, that took place at about 9:13 AM.

The Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority shared on X that the group left Loisaba to travel to Ewasonyiro on a Eurocopter, EC130 B4, operated by the charter service company Lady Lori Helicopters. Guests on board were said to be part of a luxury safari tour by travel agency andBeyond.

In a statement by NBCU News Group Chairman Cesar Conde, NBCU Local Chairman Valari Staab and Telemundo Station Group President Jose Cancela, they shared that Suárez was a “deeply respected leader” and “beloved friend and colleague.”

“The suddenness and circumstances of José’s passing make this loss especially difficult to comprehend,” read a statement to The Times. “Our hearts are with his loved ones, and with all of José’s colleagues and friends across NBCUniversal who are grieving this terrible loss.”

Over the course of his 20-plus years with NBCU Local and NBCU News Group, Suárez led stations in San Antonio, Sacramento, Fresno, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Earlier in his career — inspired by Cuban American journalist Jose Diaz-Balart — he served in programming, digital and creative leadership for Telemundo Station Group, NBC6 and Telemundo 51 in Miami.

“José was an exceptional colleague and mentor to many. He cared deeply about his teams, the communities they served and the essential role our stations play in people’s lives,” continued the statement. “He brought energy, humor, warmth and a strong sense of purpose to his work, and his impact was felt far beyond the stations he led.”

Some of Suárez’s colleagues took to social media to pay homage to the storyteller, including Elizabeth Chavolla, a bilingual multiplatform producer for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 Los Angeles, who uploaded a picture of the two on Instagram.

“I will always remember your kindness, professionalism, sense of humor and words of encouragement,” said Chavolla in an Instagram post. “You always knew how to make people smile, lift their spirits and remind them that everything was going to be okay.”

Brian Lozano, a news anchor for Telemundo 33 in Sacramento, wrote “part of me is leaving with him,” in a heartfelt Instagram post.

“He had his own way of being there for others, helping, accompanying and of leaving a deep imprint on every person who was lucky enough to cross his path,” Lozano wrote.

In a video tribute released by Telemundo 60 San Antonio, they describe Suárez as a meteorology fanatic who helped elevate the station into a robust weather reporting, while become a fan of Texan western wear and food.

“We appreciate you to the heavens for everything you did for the team, especially your joy, passion and journalistic commitment, but above all the lessons that you instilled as the great human that you’ve always been,” the video stated.

NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas also paid homage to the news executive at the end of his Wednesday program, describing him as a “loving and funny guy in a tough and unforgiving business.”

“José was not only a mentor to me but also a good friend,” said Llamas. “I, and we, will miss him so much but we know his legacy will live on in all those newsrooms, big and small, that he touched.”

Following the Wednesday tragedy, more clarity on who was on the aircraft has also come to light.

Among the deceased were Roger Duarte, a 42-year-old Miami restaurateur and seafood businessman, as well as pilot Josh Outram, a fourth-generation Kenyan and wildlife conservationist.

Two couples were also onboard, including Michele Sensi-Contugi, a 44-year-old Ecuadorian intelligence chief, who died alongside his wife, Stephany Hollihan, a 42-year-old Ecuadorian fashion designer. Husbands Henry Parra, a 55-year-old aviation software executive and Adam Hlavaty, a 42-year-old real estate developer, also died.