Themes such as gender identity, the Occupy Wall Street movement, alcoholism, suicide, the Iraq War and the housing and economic crises dominate this year’s Words Afire! Festival of New Plays.
The festival features plays by UNM graduate students whose studies focus on dramatic writing. First- and second-year students put on dramatic readings of their plays, having actors read from the script onstage, and third-year students put on full productions of their plays.
Elaine Avila, artistic director of Words Afire!, said the recent banning of books such as “Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya in Arizona makes the play writing program even more vital because it gives voice to many Hispanic writers.
Graduate student Christina Hjelm won Best Latino Playwright from the Kennedy Center for “Casualties of Dreams and Sand.” Actors will do a stage reading of it Friday.
“I feel like this is the voice of tomorrow,” Avila said. “I feel that telling these stories is kind of under threat in America today. It’s a very precious thing we have.”
She said UNM’s playwriting program is renowned.
Student Law Chavez wrote the headlining play “Señora de la Pinta,” which is the only full production in the festival. Chavez said the themes of this year’s plays are especially dark.
“Feel free to laugh. A lot of people are afraid to laugh when they go to serious tragedies,” he said.
The festival showcases the graduate students’ year of work. Chavez said it takes about a year to write a full-length play ready to be performed. “Señora de la Pinta” took him 16 months, he said.
The play tells the story of a Hispanic transsexual man whose brother is killed in the 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot. It follows the basic Oedipus story and includes incest, suicide and self-inflicted blindness. Chavez said he is often inspired by historical events.
“I’ve always liked creative writing and writing plays. I wanted to take on that challenge of doing everything through dialogue; all the action has to be through dialogue,” he said. “And it’s going to sound crazy, but I always see imaginary scenes in my mind with people arguing with each other or whatever.”
He said he uses small personal anecdotes in his play, such as referencing his favorite cookie or using an expression with his mom’s name in it. He said it can be nerve wracking to be in the audience as people watch his plays, but he still enjoys it.
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“There’s a part of me that’s a little nervous, and it may sound really vain or conceited, but I really like my plays,” he said. “So they go into production and I’m like, ‘Oh, what’s going to happen next?’ and then I’m like, ‘Of course, I wrote it.’ There’s a little nervousness with people watching, but I get so involved in watching it myself that I forget.”
More than 50 people are involved in the festival and the actors are a mix of undergraduate students, graduate students and community members.
The actors volunteer their time to help the playwrights, and Chavez said he is indebted to them.
“I’m incredibly appreciative,” he said. “I think they have to have the love for acting, and then they also have to really like the script and care about the characters they’re playing. Most artists will do a certain amount for free if they like it enough.”
Gilbert Sanchez, an undergraduate actor in “Señora de la Pinta,” said he participated in readings for Words Afire! in the past, but this is his first time participating in the fully staged production of the festival.
“It’s also a great opportunity as an actor to be able to step into a new role that’s never been created, and just create it,” he said. “It’s nice to help the playwright out but it’s also nice to create these roles from scratch.”
