Split Personality

In the November 2009 issue of Harper's Magazine, there's a terrific essay by Arthur Krystal, entitled THE WORST OF TIMES: Revisiting the Great Depression.

The essay quotes Morris Dickstein, author of Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression:

"Trying to grasp the essential spirit of the thirties would seem to be a hopeless task...How can one era have produced both Woody Guthrie and Rudy Vallee, both the Rockettes high-stepping at the Radio City Music Hall and the oakies on their desperate trek toward the pastures of plenty in California?"

Dickstein calls this the "split personality of Depression culture".

So, one week before opening night, when the inevitable questions rise about what we've created and whether we took the correct path of inquiry, this essay arrives as a good omen, a reminder that Canta y no llores is, at the very least, accurate. We've woven in all those multiple personalities, and thrown in the Day of the Dead to boot!

Woody Guthrie and Busby Berkeley? Check.
Political, sentimental and funny? Check.
Bilingual and bicultural? Check.

The Horizon

Heading into technical rehearsals this weekend with thrilled anticipation. We're at the point in the process that resembles a roller coaster. We have rehearsals of active progress and joy, and rehearsals that challenge our spirits, when we know we've grown only because the rehearsal didn't kill us. Ironic for a dia de muertos show...

But now we jump on to stage, with our intentionally ramshackle set that looks a bit like a little raft floating in the middle of a vast ocean of trees. All the sound is our own, created by the ensemble. The props are antiques, the lighting will resemble the sunlight and moonlight of the woods, and the costumes a combination of Depression Era drudgery and Hollywood glitz.

Tonite's was terrific rehearsal, the actors took a gorgeous leap forward together, making their dances look easy, singing their songs perfectly in key, and remembering many of their lines, which is not an easy feat when working bilingually!

Watching the ease emerging from all their hard work, gliding into place like an autumn leaf floating toward the forest floor, not yet landed...

Mae Catrina (West)

What if our Catrina is a Mae West kind of gal, glamorous, whip-smart, and dead?

Among our band of itinerants is a young girl who wants to be a movie star more than anything else in the world. She dreams of the riches that fame will bring, she'll never be hungry or dress in tattered clothing again. As a child of the Great Depression, she's known poverty most of her life.

Mae tells her the score...