gbgentz@unm.edu
Let’s get something out of the way first.
Go see this show. Do it. Like right now.
“Rio de Lágrimas/River of Tears” is truly something special. It is breathtaking and horrifying; it fascinates and enthralls; it’s surreal and yet staggeringly real, and does it all for a message that is impossible to ignore.
Las Meganenas is an Albuquerque-based theater troupe composed of talented Latina women. They have combined historical figure La Malinche (Cortés’ indigenous lover and translator, and effective mother of the mestizo race), her connection to folk legend La Llorona, the results of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and the missing and murdered women of Ciudad Juárez to create an enthralling story. This is a trilingual story — featuring Spanish, English and Nahuatl, which is an indigenous language of Mexico — that includes music and multimedia.
Director Michelle Estrada Allred has created an incredible piece with playwright Soledad Hindi and musical designer Vivian Fernandez. Hindi and Fernandez also perform in the play, along with Valerie Borrego, Beatriz Villegas and Michelle Otero, who sing and perform with stunning beauty and emotional weight. Alicia Lueras Maldonado is a focal point in the action, powerfully and effortlessly playing La Malinche, La Llorona and the pinnacle maquiladora worker.
The music is divine and even partly improvised, utilizing a sublime number of instruments that scatter the stage. The bewitching beauty of the many songs weaves with the punches of the raw and grotesque subject matter.
The women play spirits telling stories and history. The tragedy of La Malinche is the metaphorical betrayal and rape of Mexico by Spanish imperialism. As the narrative moves to the unfathomable and horrific torture and murder of Mexican women today, this metaphor seems anything but too extreme.
The performance starts with numbers and statistics, the only connection any person would have with these horrors.
It is heavy stuff. But more to the point, it is vitally important stuff.
Do not go thinking it’ll be a massive bite of the reality sandwich. “Rio De Lágrimas” is too many things to count.
When La Malinche finally rises and appears physically as La Llorona, she is a slow, shuddersome nightmare, thanks to some amazing shadow work. But soon the mood is shattered by the sudden burst of bouncing mariachi music, with the spirit women laughing and dancing about La Llorona as she stiffly tries to keep up. Damn, it’s funny.
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Then — no joke — they give you a beer, and the show becomes a three-headed comedy bit with thick New Mexican accents and only the best and most hilarious local colloquialisms, ¿qué no?
This kind of powerful creativity brings to mind Albuquerque’s own Blackout Theatre.
The writing is poetic, beautiful and rippling with strength. The dark metaphors for NAFTA are simple and incredibly effective.
“Brand-name jeans and sweatshop shoes” the spirits spit at one point. The language could not be better. The dramatic presentation would seem over the top if the subject matter wasn’t completely real.
The graphic nature of the chronic violence and rape, and the systemic apathy of the authorities, is beyond baffling. “¿Por qué?” the maquiladora worker screams, mirroring your thoughts, as she dies naked in the desert. Nothing is more relevant than that.
You are asked to select a stone from a pile as you enter the theater. I will not rob you of your own realization of its significance, but praise its simplicity and brilliance. You are not only asked, but forced to participate and interact.
Las Meganenas refuses to let you pretend its tales are only just stories, and, most importantly, it will not let you remain complacent to reality.
“Rio de Lágrimas/River of Tears”
Written by Soledad Hindi
Scored by Vivian Fernadez
Directed by Michelle Estrada Allred
Wells Fargo Auditorium, National Hispanic Cultural Center 1701 Fourth St. S.W.
Friday & Saturday 8 p.m.
Sunday 2 p.m.
Runs through July 1
$15
For reservations or ticket information, visit nhccnm.org or call 724-4771
