I was so proud of my envelope of tickets. I had two: one for the free shows, the other was for the tickets I purchased. All amazed me in different ways. Several were poignant...
FEAST-
Fireside storytelling at its best and most youthful. Not only did the high school cast of Albany Park Theatre Project choreograph their own movement, but they enchanted the audience with their use of imagination. The play showed a series of relatively unrelated stories, but each tale linked back to Albany Park, where the cast interviewed neighbors to track down the history of its local color. They told their parents' stories, Albany Parks' vendors' stories, stories of struggle, shame, and success. Each story shared a little bit of magic, whether it meant the magic of using the Link card or the magic of learning how to cook tamales the right way in order to bring customers out during winter. The girl with the Link card jumped, slid, and even suspended the shopping cart up in the air to twirl in ecstasy at the access she had to her favorite foods. The struggling tamales vendor embraced the art of cooking with the guidance of her passionate neighbor who took her back to memories of her aunt's cooking in Peru. Several stories used song to express some memories, one story used weird instruments to make farm noises, some stories used glitter...Everything was in good taste and professional detail. The group worked hard and brought poetic justice to the political messages.
A Lover's Dismantling-
This was one of my favorite readings at the festival because of its intellectual look at emotion. The universal message empowered the play and the festival. It was not about "Latino" love or anything necessarily Latino-specific. The author, Elena Guiochins shows how people are eternal--though people come and go in moments and seasons of our lives, their impact lasts forever. One man's wife comes out of a suitcase near the beginning of the play. It was comical but truthful: we carry people with us; we pack heavy memories and regrets along with our mistakes and resentment wherever we travel. I connected with this play, not because I am Latina, but because I have loved.
I also love the words of the play...Guiochins' play plays on words, names, and love stories. The characters eventually start sounding alike which works with the message because one "lover's dismantling" turns into the similar story of various loves.
Andy Bragen's adaptation translated well to the audience (based on the applause at the end of the reading), but near the beginning, one of my neighbors in the audience seemed dissatisfied. I heard someone grunt at the mention of one of the character's names, "Mrs. Castle." Castillo, castle in Spanish, is a common last name, and I assume my fellow audience member had issue with the translation of Latino names into English. But the play was not about language boundaries or a specific Latino character. A Lover's Dismantling shows how people love and hurt and feel and get hurt. Elena Guiochins dismantled human emotion and pieced together many of our human feelings, regardless or race.
More Ahead...
Las Soldaderas...
Picturesque and emotional.
The Cubans!
Teatro BuenDia will not go unmentioned. They were the highlight (and kick-off) of the festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment