TheatreZone presents our 2nd annual Lorca in the Park, free performances of The House of Bernarda Alba /La Casa de Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca in Mary O'Malley Park, alternating between performances in English and the Spanish original. This powerful drama of seduction and betrayal, set in rural Spain, is a study in family relationships under the strain of culturally and socially imposed sexual taboos. When Bernarda Alba's husband dies, she strives to contain the passions of her five unmarried daughters, but desire prevails in a dramatic culmination of madness and violence.
Lorcašs public image as a revolutionary artist and his private life as a homosexual made him a political symbol, and his plays shocked theatergoers with their explicit overtones of forbidden love and freedom of thought. August 9, 1936, soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Franco's Fascists dragged the Spanish poet and playwright into a field, shot him, and tossed his body into an unmarked grave. Franco's government tried to obliterate Lorca's memory. His books were prohibited, his name forbidden. Since then he has become the most-translated Spanish writer in history, widely recognized as poet of genius and possibly the foremost poetic dramatist of our time.
Written in 1936, The House of Bernarda Alba was Lorca's final play. He never lived to see a staging of his play, which was not produced until 1945 in Argentina, and not until 1964 in Spain. It stands today as one of the masterpieces of modern theater.
TheatreZonešs production of The House of Bernarda Alba stars Genie Montalvo (Bernarda/Spanish) and Shelley Brown (Bernarda/English). Genie Montalvo's stage credits include playing Hamlet, Hecuba, and starring in the award winning The Order of Things. Among her film credits is Carlos Fuentes' La Cabeza de la Hidra. She has also appeared in several Telemundo daytime dramas including Pacto de Amor and Alejandra and in PBS' production of Destinos. She is also an accomplished producer whose credits include Ray Charles in Concert and Jesus Passion and Death with Ricky Martin in the part of Jesus. Genie co-directed last summer's Lorca in the Park production of Blood Wedding/Bodas de Sangre.
Shelley Brown is the winner of several local and regional acting awards for her appearances in theatres over the past two decades, in plays as diverse as The Countess, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and The Country Girl. Last summer she also appeared in Lorca in the Park, playing the Mother in Blood Wedding. Her most recent work includes an association with the Huntington Theatre, where she understudied roles in this season's Butley, What the Butler Saw, and The Rose Tattoo.
These free performances of The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca are July 21-August 1, at 7:30pm. The production is staged environmentally in Mary O'Malley Park, Commandant's Way, on the Chelsea Waterfront (Admiral's Hill). English performances are Thurs. July 22, Fri. July 23, Sun. July 25, and Sat. July 31
. Spanish performances are Wed. July 21, Sat. July 24, Fri. July 30, and Sun. Aug. 1. In case of rain performances will be moved indoors to the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea Square.
Cast :
Ana Torres, Ann Carpenter, Cindy Moreno, Flavia Steiner Viggiani, Genie Montalvo, Holly Grose, Ida Rudolph, Janelle Mills, Jenny Gutbezahl, Jennifer Lago, Karen Fanale, Katherine McDonald, Kayla Rae Vesce, Latanya Magee, Lisa Richardson, Liz Kurtz, Liz Stuart, Margaret Carsley, Maria R. Davila, Monica C. Delgado, Nikki Kemp, Ramona Alexander, Renee Miller, Saritin Martinez, Shelley Brown, & Paul Abbot on guitar
Directed by: Danielle Fauteux Jacques
Asstistant Directors/Stage Managers: Alain Groene & Isaac Sierra
Production Stage Manager: Jeremiah Mullane
Dramaturg: Kirsten Bowen
Costume Design: Susan Paino
Set Design: Julia Noulin-Merat, Asst. Set Design: Rucha Karnik
Lighting Design: Sherry Coenen
Props: Ecos Garcia & Eileen Rooney
ASM: Pepita Soto
Park Manager: Peter Hubbard
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