Scooter told me about The King of the Desert - a one-man show put on by the Greenway Arts Alliance, where earlier this year we saw The Bewildered Herd, which we loved.
Scooter tried telling me more about the play, but I ignored his synopsis. I enjoy not knowing what the play is about. I prefer to go in cold, leaving any kind of expectations at the door. Because I will, inevitably, form expectations - especially when I'm familiar with a subject, like Greek mythology or Shakespeare (see plenty of examples in this blog!).
So I trusted his judgement, and we saw the play ... which left me feeling angry. Angry because the subject hits a little too close to home. It's about a Mexican American man who wrestles with his Mexican American identity as he grows up in a little town in Texas and pursues an acting career in New York.
If you're read my Rant & Rave-inspired post on Blood, you probably have a sense of my conflicted national identity, and this play really brought all that into question.
As a Mexican - and I feel like I can call myself that when juxtaposed with a Mexican American - I got really excited when we got references to Mexican history. Not Mexican American history, with heroes like Cesar Chavez, but true Mexican history with heroes like Miguel Hidalgo, el Padre de la Patria (The Father of the Nation). I got excited when he talked about indigenous groups other than the Aztecs and the Mayans, referencing the Toltecs and the Olmecs and such. But then I'd just as quickly get enraged when those indigenous groups would get mixed up into one.
As far as the play itself goes, I both loved and hated Rene Rivera's acting. At moment of great crisis, when the character breaks down and cries, I felt his acting overdramatic, his sobs too loud, too fake - which angered me when, at the end of the play, I discovered that the play is actually, legitimately based on his own life.
Apparently his wife wrote this one-act play about her husband to understand her husband's past, his roots, and how they will inform their daughter's history, her upbringing.
What I absolutely adored about Rivera's acting is how he portrayed the other characters in his life - his friend, his brother, but mostly his parents. I loved how key gestures made me see that I was watching the mother speak.
So I feel probably as conflicted with this play asI feel with myself ... only perhaps angrier at the play because I can project that anger onto something else.
Scooter tried telling me more about the play, but I ignored his synopsis. I enjoy not knowing what the play is about. I prefer to go in cold, leaving any kind of expectations at the door. Because I will, inevitably, form expectations - especially when I'm familiar with a subject, like Greek mythology or Shakespeare (see plenty of examples in this blog!).
So I trusted his judgement, and we saw the play ... which left me feeling angry. Angry because the subject hits a little too close to home. It's about a Mexican American man who wrestles with his Mexican American identity as he grows up in a little town in Texas and pursues an acting career in New York.
If you're read my Rant & Rave-inspired post on Blood, you probably have a sense of my conflicted national identity, and this play really brought all that into question.
As a Mexican - and I feel like I can call myself that when juxtaposed with a Mexican American - I got really excited when we got references to Mexican history. Not Mexican American history, with heroes like Cesar Chavez, but true Mexican history with heroes like Miguel Hidalgo, el Padre de la Patria (The Father of the Nation). I got excited when he talked about indigenous groups other than the Aztecs and the Mayans, referencing the Toltecs and the Olmecs and such. But then I'd just as quickly get enraged when those indigenous groups would get mixed up into one.
As far as the play itself goes, I both loved and hated Rene Rivera's acting. At moment of great crisis, when the character breaks down and cries, I felt his acting overdramatic, his sobs too loud, too fake - which angered me when, at the end of the play, I discovered that the play is actually, legitimately based on his own life.
Apparently his wife wrote this one-act play about her husband to understand her husband's past, his roots, and how they will inform their daughter's history, her upbringing.
What I absolutely adored about Rivera's acting is how he portrayed the other characters in his life - his friend, his brother, but mostly his parents. I loved how key gestures made me see that I was watching the mother speak.
So I feel probably as conflicted with this play asI feel with myself ... only perhaps angrier at the play because I can project that anger onto something else.
