In Daphne’s Dive, a beloved northern Philly dive bar, outsiders congregate. They knock back shots and swig beers as they prepare for a protest, dream up their next painting, plan their next job, or complain about their neighbors. Under a string of Puerto Rican flags and a taxidermied deer head draped with garland, the patrons become a sort of found family.
But families can carry a lot of baggage, and this found family packs the bar so full with theirs that a 110-minute show is not nearly enough time to satisfyingly tap their depths.
“Daphne’s Dive” was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, the same playwright who wrote the book for “In the Heights” and won a Pulitzer for her play “Water by the Spoonful.” Hudes penned this play as part of Cleveland Play House’s New Grounds Theater Festival, and the work helped name her as the inaugural recipient of the Roe Green Award. The work is receiving its official Cleveland premiere at Dobama Theatre under the direction of Juliana Frey-Méndez…