{"id":6090,"date":"2016-09-29T07:51:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T11:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6090"},"modified":"2016-10-20T06:42:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T10:42:17","slug":"bathing-in-moonlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6090","title":{"rendered":"Bathing in Moonlight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bathing

Hannia Guillen & Ra\u00fal M\u00e9ndez, photo by T. Charles Erickson<\/p><\/div>\n

Thirteen years ago, McCarter Theatre\u2019s artistic director Emily Mann and playwright Nilo Cruz teamed up to present the premiere of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics<\/em>, and their new collaboration\u2014the world premiere of Bathing in Moonlight\u2014<\/em>is terrific! On stage 9\/16-10\/9.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Miami, three generations of a Cuban family are exiled. The widowed grandmother Martina (Priscilla Lopez) has early dementia and feels she\u2019s never found her place in America; daughter Marcela (Hannia Guillen) is desperate to hold the family together in tough economic circumstances; and granddaughter Trini (Katty Velasquez) is an assimilated American teen, bent on a career in marine biology. Two men disturb the stability of this affectionate home.<\/p>\n

Marcela\u2019s brother Taviano (Frankie J. Alvarez<\/a>) is away, studying to become a doctor, which may finally solve the family\u2019s precarious finances. Her beloved piano was sold to help pay for his education, but he\u2019s been out of touch for two years. When he returns, his resemblance to his father discomposes the already confused Martina. Worse is the news he gives Marcela\u2014he\u2019s failed his medical exams.<\/p>\n

The other man in their lives is Father Monroe (Ra\u00fal M\u00e9ndez), a dedicated and sympathetic parish priest. He lets Marcela play the piano at the church and, attuned to the family\u2019s poverty, lends her money to cover their rent. Marcela finds him attractive in an unattainable way. However, the attraction is mutual, and difficult choices loom.<\/p>\n

Director Mann considers Cruz \u201cone of the great poets of the American theater, akin to Tennessee Williams,\u201d and certainly in this play, the poetry, humor, and humanity in these simple situations shines through. Cruz thinks of his works as musical compositions, with each character an instrument contributing to the whole. Their speech contains Spanish rhythms, and even the three levels of Cuban accent create a chord, with the abuela\u2019s <\/em>accent the strongest, Marcela\u2019s medium-strength, and the granddaughter\u2019s almost disappeared.<\/p>\n

The role of Father Monroe is the U.S. stage debut for Mexican actor Ra\u00fal M\u00e9ndez, and he is powerful in it. From the opening when he charms the audience with a sermon about inclusion, his every gesture and expression is pitch-perfect. He\u2019s a stand-out in a strong cast. Lopez and Velasquez imbue the aging grandmother and sprightly granddaughter with personality and verve. Cuban Alvarez in the dual-role of father and son expertly plays two generations. The most opaque character is Marcela, oddly, and I think that\u2019s the play, not Guillen\u2019s performance. Marcela is surrounded by people with so many needs, and so accustomed to putting those needs first, it\u2019s hard for her to come into her own.<\/p>\n

Charles Isherwood<\/a> in the New York Times<\/em> was ungenerous in his review, saying, \u201cthe Catholic Church\u2019s strictures on the priesthood (no women, no marriage), . . . which even many Catholics consider ludicrously out of step with today\u2019s world \u2014 have been fodder for debate in the popular media for years,\u201d but this is a narrow interpretation. The play unfolded against the backdrop of Father Monroe\u2019s opening sermon about including \u201cthe other,\u201d about how we shouldn\u2019t construct walls to keep people out, but to bring them in. To me, that was (alas!) as relevant to 2016 as to 1716 or to 1139, particularly for our Latino brethren.<\/p>\n

The play, which received an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, raises interesting high-level questions about faith, orthodoxy, exile, and love across generations, beautifully staged and acted\u2014well worth the trip to Princeton!<\/p>\n

McCarter has prepared a show website<\/a> rich with information. Call the box office at 609-258-2787 or visit http:\/\/www.mccarter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirteen years ago, McCarter Theatre\u2019s artistic director Emily Mann and playwright Nilo Cruz teamed up to present the premiere of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics, and their new collaboration\u2014the world premiere of Bathing in Moonlight\u2014is terrific! On stage … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Bathing in Moonlight - it isn't about celibacy, it's about walls","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[366,104,147],"tags":[623,625,329,624,203],"class_list":["post-6090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-catholic-church","tag-emily-mann","tag-mccarter-theatre","tag-nilo-cruz","tag-pulitzer-prize"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1Ae","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6100,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6090\/revisions\/6100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}