In ‘La Egoísta,’ a Philly-raised comedian confronts her selfishness

Selfish or selfless? In La Egoísta, the Philadelphia Theatre Company production that runs through Oct. 20, comedian Josefina (Sasha Merci) readily admits to the former: “I’m not a naturally giving person,” she tells the audience in a stand-up set.

But when her sister Betsaida (María Gabriela González) lands in the hospital with a gastrointestinal issue, she has to learn to put her own needs last. The Los Angeles comic heads back to her family home in Philadelphia to care for her sister while trying to balance an increasingly demanding gig schedule.

Josefina had finally started getting paid for her speedy, saucy, but sometimes unsteady sets that poke fun at her estranged religious family and joked about her 30-year-old vagina beginning to smell like her mom’s. The family emergency makes for good joke fodder, but she begins turning down gigs to help Betsaida recover from surgery.

La Egoísta alternates between her stand-up routines and the push-and-pull of sibling drama, with creative staging that ensures a mic stand is never too far. Merci was confident and commanding with Josefina’s mic, delivering hits and some awkward misses with the opening crowd at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. The few stumbles may have been first-night jitters, but they also passed for the quick-pivoting stagecraft of a budding comic trying to test and push the audience.

As Betsaida, a conservative Jehovah’s Witness struggling through a liquid diet and mounting medical bills, González plays the soft-spoken, self-sacrificing devoted daughter, a compelling foil to Merci’s Josefina. The sisters diverge especially in their relationships with their recently-deceased mom — Josefina’s was strained and distanced while Betsaida remained close to her through their shared religion.

It’s Josefina’s mocking of her family’s beliefs that hurts Betsaida the most when she finally sees clips of her sister’s sets. The pair fight until caregiving needs intercede again, and they make up.

In trying to infuse levity into Betsaida’s story line, Philadelphia playwright Erlina Ortiz adds puppets, specifically of a pastelillo and a hot dog; the sick and starving sister sees them in place of other characters. (A cat appears, too.) Puppeteer Marisol Rosa-Shapiro is entertaining, but the puppets seemed like a step too far in a direction that didn’t quite fit the play’s tone, occasionally feeling like juvenile interjections to move along slower plot points.

The play shined when Josefina’s stand-up made the theater feel more like a comedy club. And all jokes aside: The show made me want to call my own my brother.

Through Oct. 20 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Center City; philadelphiatheatrecompany.org. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

Theater reviews are produced independently by The Inquirer without editorial input by their sponsor, Visit Philadelphia.