Brujas, aparecidos y leyendas: Antología de obras de dramaturgos comunitarios by Sonia Enríquez (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Brujas, aparecidos y leyendas: Antología de obras de dramaturgos comunitarios by Sonia Enríquez Timothy G. Compton Enríquez, Sonia, asesoría, coordinación y selección. Brujas, aparecidos y leyendas: Antología de obras de dramaturgos comunitarios. México D.F.: Libros de Godot, 2012: 387 pp. In Mexico, talk of “México” can refer to the country, the capital city, or the “Estado de México.” Many outsiders are unaware of this third México, a state that borders Mexico City on the west, north and east. Brujas, aparecidos y leyendas contains plays intimately associated with the eastern portion of the state, which is flanked by Mexico City to the west and by the Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanoes to the east. Only about ten miles separate Amecameca and Ozumba, where the plays were written and premiered, from the famous peaks. They are places rich in their unique geography as well as in history and legend. Every year since 2005, Sonia Enríquez has held talleres de dramaturgia comunitaria, during which inhabitants of the region with little to no experience in writing create playscripts based on local history and stories. The best of these plays have been performed at a festival of teatro comunitario, premiering in various locales—plazas, churches, and open spaces adjacent to prominent historical buildings. Many of the plays have been performed outside the region as well. This anthology contains 15 of the 45 plays created during the workshop’s first six years. It also includes brief descriptions of all 45 plays, a short bio for each playwright, half a dozen performance photographs, and a note from Enríquez about the workshops. The plays initially seemed simplistic to me in their construction, development of character and moralizing tone (the latter often conveyed overtly by choruses, which appear in seven plays). Nevertheless, the longer I read, the more intrigued I became. Many seem like theatrical equivalents of Ricardo Palma’s Tradiciones peruanas—capturing the essence of stories and legends from a unique place. Most feature delightful popular language, full of phonetically accurate speech. Many make reference to or include characters from widely known history or legend, such as Nezahuacóyotl, the Llorona, bullies from the Inquisition, variations on Satan, and figures related to the Day of the Dead. Fascinatingly, these characters appear in local contexts with quirky variations. After reading the plays, I read the playwright bios and discovered that more than half were not yet 20 when they wrote their plays, and one was just 13! While some of the plays were less than polished, the quality of many was astonishingly good. Here follow comments on some of the plays I found most intriguing: El huatepoxtle, by Vicenta Higuera, is a variation on the theme of selling one’s soul to the devil. Set in 1912, a poor woodcutter by the name of Juan Ruiz sells not only his soul but the souls of his family members to Huatepoxtle, a “duende maligno del bosque de Amecameca” who serves the devil himself (who, curiously, dresses as a charro negro). [End Page 137] Momentzcopiani, cae la noche, viene por ti…, by Edgar Jesús Arroyo, portrays the story of a teacher whose baby dies shortly after birth. Villagers tell her that a local woman, whom they claim is a witch, was responsible. The grieving mother follows the townspeople’s instructions to exact revenge by burning a particular herb, and the woman/witch subsequently dies from burns. Incidentally, only animals attend her funeral. Las luces del agüero, by Edgar Vera Suárez, has a sophisticated, well-developed plot involving space aliens, a local curandero/loco who claims to receive messages from the extraterrestrials about protecting the environment, greedy woodcutters who dress as aliens to make more money, and a hilarious encounter between the aliens, the pretenders, and other colorful characters. In other plays, a statue destined for another place miraculously grounds itself in Ozumba, a local priest expropriates a heathen miracle, the souls of the dead punish people who snitch altar food on the Day of the Dead, an adulterer invokes the Llorona legend to cover his tracks, and the Inquisition burns a woman...