Here is a show that will set a mood for the upcoming holiday season that has no Christmas music, no re-creations of the nativity, no heartwarming hallmark sentimentality.\u00a0 It takes not in a theatre but in a church\u2014Mission San Juan Bautista\u2014where the thick adobe walls have echoed for two hundred years and still resound today with voices raised in song and praise.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Virgen Del Tepayac\u201d is a vibrant retelling of an old story, the miracle of the four miraculous apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the Aztec messenger Juan Diego in 1531.\u00a0 Night has already fallen as we wait in line outside the mission, reading over the detailed synopsis of the story we are about to witness.\u00a0 We\u2019ll need this information, because the pageant is performed by El Teatro Campesino (\u201cthe peasant theatre\u201d) entirely in Spanish.\u00a0 Inside, we take our seats facing the center aisle with the altar at our right hand and the central raised stage at our left.<\/p>\n
The lights dim; long blasts from a conch-horn echo through the darkened sanctuary, dancers clad in Aztec robes and feathers gather in the rear, and offer a song in salute and prayer to \u201cEstrella del Oriente,\u201d the Star of the East.\u00a0 The year is 1519; enter the Spanish clergy and soldiers, a symbolic conquest, baptism of the Indios.\u00a0 Appearing from the smoke and mist to our hero Juan Diego (Ruben C. Gonzalez), La Virgen is an apparition to us as well.<\/p>\n
All this story is told with compelling music, great flashes of color and dance, moving through the mission from one end to the other and back again.\u00a0 The great hall has been so built that spoken words are heard throughout with not need of amplification.\u00a0 When La Virgen (Stephani Garcia Canedlaria) appears a second and third time to Juan Diego, her song captures the resonance of the great hall perfectly, a truly stunning performance.\u00a0\u00a0 There are turns of fine acting by the Bishop (Gustavo Mellado) and the Friars (especially Luis Juarez as Fray De Gante), some comic relief by Rosa Mari Escalante as Citlamina, a sprightly children\u2019s dance, leading up to climactic dance and final apparition at the altar.<\/p>\n
This show, adapted by Luis Valdez from an anonymous 18th<\/sup> century script, conveys all the wonder of Juan Diego\u2019s vision and the miracle that became the seed of the Christianity to spread throughout Mexico.\u00a0 As we depart into the crisp starlit night the entire ensemble sings \u201cVamos Caminando\u201d and invite us to take our own journey with the true spirit, unity and essence of Christmas.<\/p>\n Mission San Juan Bautista, San Juan Bautista CA<\/p>\n Through December 16, 2012<\/p>\n Tickets and Information:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.elteatrocampesino.com<\/a> or 1-800-838-3006<\/p>\n