“Refuge”

[rating=4]Many of us grew up attending the opera. I did not speak or even understand Italian, and back in my day, they did not show the English words. Still, watching the performance and the emotion from the singers made me understand the story line. Imagine if you will our grandparents coming to this country from Eastern Europe . How could they go to a play, a movie or even the opera? Those coming from Italy had an advantage over those from Poland or Germany or even Russia. Think about our population today and the number of Spanish speaking people. One wonders how do they understand the shows that we see on a regular basis?

Tonight I attended the opening, the Midwest Premiere of a play titled “Refuge”, Leave it to a theater company like Theo Ubique to make something as unique as this experience come alive. The story written by Satya Jnani Chavez and Andrew Rosendorf is a deeply moving saga about journey of a young woman (Tatiana Bustamante) as she crosses the border into an unfriendly Texas, where they have been plagued by drug dealers and their mules crossing on a regular basis. The Girl is trying to reach her mother and all she has is a slip of paper with a phone number written on it. She is to call and then become re-united with her mother.

Co-directed by  Chavez ( who is also the music director) and Valen-Marie Santos, this is a slick production that brings us original music ( played on guitar by Laura Murillo Hart). If you watch her as the 100 minute show ( no intermission) progresses you can capture a great deal of the spirit and touching moments. Her eyes show both happiness and sadness at just the right moments. The playwrights and directors opted to do the play in almost all Spanish for several reasons. One of course, is that the huge Hispanic population has been attending plays in English for years. This production puts us at that slight disadvantage, but guess what? The actors in this ensemble brought the understanding of the story to us.

The puppetry was wonderful as well as the lighting (Trey Brazeal), sound (Stefanie Senior), props (Lonnae Hickman) and the puppets themselves ( Adolfo Romero). What truly makes this story come alive is the ensemble: Aida Palma Carpio ( who is also the puppeteer for the snake), Devon Carson ( as Martina the border patrol guard), Andres J. Deleon, Marcella Ossa Gomez, Bill Kalinak (the rancher who befriends the girl), Juan Gonzalez Machain ( the wolf puppet), Bridgett Martinez, Laura Quinones, – they are dynamite and work as a well oiled group.

This is a story about people. Unlike what we hear in the political fights, these are not people who want to come here and do evil. On the contrary, these are people who are fleeing their homeland in order to get a better life. To live in peace and harmony and raise a family that can have a better life than theirs. Isn’t that why your “people came here?”. I will say this again- you do not need to know a word of Spanish to understand and feel the emotion of this production. There is enough English sprinkled in to make it easy and the music and the acting is truly enough to make this an enjoyable experience that will give you pause to speak about what you saw and what you felt. Isn’t that what theater is all about?

“Refuge” will continue at Theo Ubique Theater located at  721 Howard Street in Evanston thru November 13th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  7:30 p.m.

Sundays  6:00 p.m.

Tickets range from  $45-$55 and are available to 773-939-4101 or online at www.theo-u.com

There is a dinner available from Taco Diablo to fit the theme for an additional $30. There is a bar available.

If you have never been to Theo Ubique perhaps now is the time to have the experience. We had dinner a few doors down at a great spot called “Good To Go” www.goodtogorestaurant.com

let them know you are going next door and they will make sure you are on time.  Masks must be worn in the theater, but no vac cards need to be shown. The actors are up close and we need to protect them.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Refuge”.