Playwright José Cruz González realizes the capabilities of human emotion in a way not all playwrights do. He can present jealousy, love, or joy and then delve into how they fracture and intertwine in a complicated dance that moves people to falter as they’re overcome. He can show love as an omnipotent force that can easily turn dark as it blends with jealousy and produces rage. He explores how faith combined with true love can be unwavering even in the face of ultimate demise, and how fear and shame can lead to pain.
Though the name of the play is Invierno—the Spanish word for winter—the production is hot with emotion. The story is about the mistakes we make, and about redemption and forgiveness, and about acknowledging that even though we move forward, scars remain.
Invierno begins with a young, modern-day woman (Sabrina Cavalletto) trying to hang herself. Her boyfriend (Cody Craven) finds her, and the tale of their troubled relationship unfolds from there. Mysteriously, they’re approached by a Mestizo woman named Paulina (Catalina Maynard) and transported 200 years into the past to participate in another story that seems to parallel their own.
That story takes place in 19th century rancho California. Don Leon (Richard Gallegos) wrongly accuses his wife of having an affair with his best friend Don Patricio (Evans Eden Jarnefeldt). As jealousy overtakes Don Leon, his rage sparks destruction for everyone involved. Even though his wife insists on her fidelity, and even as his friend Caspian (Andrew Philpot) insists there’s no affair and offers to straighten things out, Don Leon doesn’t budge.
Invierno is a newly commissioned work by González, author of The Heart’s Desire. He wrote it specifically for PCPA. The story was inspired by Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. González said the story retains Shakespeare’s examination that begins with the pain of mistakes, turns into regret and sorrow over a loss, and ultimately ends in forgiveness.
This new story does indeed end with love and forgiveness, but the ride to redemption is a rough one.
As Don Leon, Gallegos straddles the line between inspiring hatred and earning pity. He easily generates outrage and adopts an almost villainous status as he casts his pregnant wife into jail. His anger becomes frightening as he later takes her days-old infant in its cradle and threatens to crush it on the rocks. Yet as he fights with his soul about whether to tell his wife he loves her and whether to believe the baby is his—and as he sees the consequences of his mistakes—he comes across as fragile. Gallegos’ performance makes a big emotional impact; it’s heart-wrenching.
Maynard, as Paulina, is a quiet star in this production. She’s the voice of reason, logic, love, and loyalty as the wise older sister to Don Leon’s wife Hermonia (Leah Dutchin). She also acts as a guide to the young modern-day couple watching the historical tale take place and trying to unravel their own turmoil.
The heavy storyline is given some levity by the antics of Vaquero (Peter S. Hadres), an amiable old sheepherder and Alejandro (Leo Cortez), a tall-tale-telling thief.
The entire tale is blanketed by the era of the Californios and the tension that surrounds the Mexican-American War. Gonzalez explores the story with a multi-cultural subtext common to many of his works. The result is the message that no matter who we are, our actions, whether physical or emotional, leave scars that we all have to overcome.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone likes verano. Send comments to scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 2-9, 2010.