Ruth Otero

Ruth Otero moves effortlessly through a score of characters in her second one-woman show, exemplified by tremendous dignity and solid mental and physical control. Dancing alongside every performer’s top demon, fear, she replaces anxiety and cowardice with humorous bravery, making one question why they themselves would ever fall victim to such timid apprehension.

The one hour and fifteen minute skit is a journey through the daily aversions that hold one back from fulfilling not only their dreams but at times, the simple action of being alive. One scenario places Otero as Yellow Bird in the boxing ring against Fear, the next as a human dealing with the possibility of super powers, followed by the prospect of being “special”. She also touches on important societal and feminine issues, such as growing up as a Puerto Rican pretending to be white in order to get ahead and the ideas of pregnancy and lesbianism. Her intimacy with the crowd created a relaxed atmosphere, making her punchlines punch and serious monologues punch harder. An incredibly lively dance with insomnia set to classical music rounds out the action.

Otero’s timing and honesty are her strengths, as she segues characters with fluid authority. Every scene drew many laughs, and rightfully so. The repetitious nature of the subject does wear a bit thin towards the end as she seems to run out of metaphors to employ, but those delivered are powerful. Kim Ima offers continuous insight as direct, and the minimal setting of chair and bed leave a lot of room for Otero to dance. And with irresistible humility and humbleness, she dances extravagantly. (Derek Beres - Backstage)
- BACKSTAGE

Many performers have nightmares about finding themselves onstage in a play they don't know or haven't rehearsed. In her solo show, vivacious Latina Ruth Otero takes that notion and runs with it. When the lights come up, she's in bed, enjoying a snooze, only to wake up to find herself facing an audience: It's that dream again! After timorously assuring us that we don't exist, except in her imagination, she sets out to entertain us - and for the most part succeeds admirably. Her characters include a woman obsessed with being special, a Puerto Rican on trial for trying to pass as white, and a hapless boxer who's lost so many matches even his mother won't return his phone calls. One of Otero's characters insists - with waning conviction - that she's not a lesbian, while another adjusts to the dark side of pregnancy. Otero's funniest sketch is a mime sequence about an insomniac, performed to Rossini music that is a hoot in itself. The sensibility is New York Latin, but the themes are universal. Otero is a lithe, attractive performer, and director Kim Ima keeps things moving smoothly. (Neal Weaver)
- LA WEEKLY

Contrary to the thesp axiom that drama is easy and comedy is hard, Ruth Otero uses humor as a catharsis. The very issues that might cause arrested development in even the most self aware, Otero faces head one, with the audience as her mirror: If there was a “Fear Factor” for actors, Otero would thrive as MC.

In “Losing My Religion”, her first one-woman show at New York’s Third Eye Repertory, the writer-performer confronted her upbringing as a Seventh-day Adventist. In the more ambitious “Dancing With My Demons”, which just closed its run at Hollywood’s Theatre Theater, Otero broadens the spectrum of neuroses; from conflicts stemming from concealing, then embracing, her Puerto Rican roots to fears related to motherhood, sexuality and her insecurities as an entertainer.

“Laughing and crying are very similar, very cathartic,”says Otero. “When you cry from sorrow you feel so alone. When you cry from laughing, you don’t feel like you’re the only one.”

A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts who has exhibited a knack for improv with the SalSoul Comedy Troup and as a founding member of Hoffenrich, Otero has punched her own ticket. She’s been writing monologues for the last 10 years, including a sketch gig with Caroline’s Comedy Club.

Her recent move to L.A. from the north Bronx, where she grew up in a predominantly Italian neighborhood, was a calculated effort to advance her career. And the effort has paid off with notices from HBO, and network execs who’ve taken a keen interest in her next move.

“It’s nice to be out here and be surrounded by creativity in a new environment,” she says. “New York is hustle, hustle, hustle and very manic. Here I can just breathe. OK, there’s another pace to live on.” – Steve Chagollan

- VARIETY MAGAZINE