“The Madres”

Highly Recommended **** Since my days with LaRaza, followed by TeleGuia and then Nueva Semana, I have been highly involved in the productions of Teatro Vista. I have been working with this company almost since their inception and have watched many of their members/performers move into other theater companies and do plays outside of the Hispanic community. They have developed some great performers, directors, writers and in general, have been a boost to the Chicago area theater scene.

Their latest production , in their new home, the Richard Christiansen Theater ( second floor of The Victory Gardens), is a World Premiere of Stephanie Alison Walker’s “The Madres”, a powerful story that details the problems of the Guerra Sucia ( “Dirty War” ) period of Argentina’s government during the 1970’s. This was a treacherous time for the Argentinians as people were disappearing right off the street. This “Dirty War” was waged by the Military “Junta” against its own people. This was a government “dictatorship” and people were pulled off the streets and placed in detention camps ( one might even call the concentration camps). if you were believed to be a subversive or  associated with socialism, you were no longer one that they wanted to be free. students, journalists and artists disappeared.

There were families who tried to find their “missing” relations, and that is a part of what this play is all about. “The Madres” ( which means The Mothers) is about one family, composed of Josefina ( an incredible performance by Ivonne Coll) the family matriarch and her daughter Carolina ( deftly handled by Lorena Diaz) who are concerned about Carolina’s daughter, who is supposedly in Paris with her artist husband, expecting their first child ( which woulkd be Carolina’s grandchild and the great- grandchild of  Josefina). They feel that she is afraid to come back for fear that she will be locked up for her attitude.

As the story goes on we meet the padre, Padre Juan ( deftly handled by Ramon Camin) who was their local padre, but has been taken in by the Military. He pays the two women a visit in hopes of finding more information on their missing girl, Belen. Meanwhile,  Josefina and Carolina know that the government already knows where the “missing” girl is and when they are visited by an old friend and neighbor, Diego ( Felipe Carrasco does an excellent job), they convince him that there must be a baby shower. What they find out is that Diego does in fact know how to reach her. Not only reach her, but to make sure that she does attend the baby shower that her mother and grandmother will arrange.

There are some clever twists and turns in the storyline and I would never spoil this for you, so I will leave some blanks. We do meet the daughter, ( a great interpretation by Ilse Zacharias) as the pregnant girl who has become very close with Diego, who as it turns out was in love with her when they were children, but was always rejected by her as just “Diego”. A lot of this story is about these Mothers working to beat the system and save their daughter/granddaughter/great granddaughter from the system that wants total control. Where are all the missing children ( and later grandchildren as well as great grandchildren)? Perhaps you have heard about the March of the Mothers of the Disappeared ( Madres de los Desaparecidos) of the late 70’s and early 80’s. The marches began in 1977 and now, forty years later continues. This play, smoothly directed by  Ricardo Gutierrez , tells us the story in a fashion that will break any ethnic barriers. The story will make sense to everyone!

“The Madres” is a wonderful story that gives us history, folklore, education and entertainment bringing Hispanic tradition to the forefront. Many of us had no idea that any of this even took place. We were blind to the fact and this play will open your eyes to a despicable period in our history. This cast is divine and the direction smooth as silk. Every actor contributes to making the story unfold with ease over two hours ( two acts with a 10 minute intermission). The set (Jose Manuel Diaz Soto) is very realistic, the lighting (Jessica Doyle) and sound (Eric Backus) well done with great props by Hillarie Shockley) and costumes ( Uriel Gomez). This is a tech perfect show where it all fits to a tee.

“The Madres” will continue at Victory Gardens Theater located at 2433 N. Lincoln avenue thru May 27th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  8:00 p.m.

Fridays  8 p.m.

Saturdays  8 p.m.

Sundays  3:30 p.m.

Tickets range from $20- $45 ( a solid value for theater of this high quality) and can be purchased at the box office, by calling 773-871-3000 or at http://www.VictoryGardens.orgor thru www.Teatrovista.org

Parking is valet or in the area, metered and zoned street parking.

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

Running Time  2 hours including intermission