One hundred and sixty-seven years ago, on a blisteringly hot Mexico day in Chapultapec, the remaining members of St. Patrick’s Battalion stood sweltering in the backs of wagons, waiting to be hanged. The group of 30 Irish and European immigrant soldiers were captured during the Mexican-American War, not by Mexico’s forces, but by the United States, which the battalion had defected from to join the Mexican Army.
That is how PCPA Theaterfest’s world premiere production of The San Patricios opens, captured battalion members stand, hands bound behind their backs, as their voices rise into song. Playwright José Cruz González’s new work of historical fiction marks his second collaboration with PCPA artistic director Mark Booher on a world premiere. It also marks another joint effort between González and Daniel Valdez, who composed and arranged the music for the play.
Just as the battalion finishes its resounding Irish air, an old carnival organ grinds into a familiar rhythm, and the booming voice of Ringmaster Polk (Erik Stein) urges the crowd to take a whirlwind ride through the past with infamous characters as their guides. Polk is joined by the smaller, Napoleon-esque Gen. Santa Anna (Leo Cortez), who acts as a kind of co-ringmaster throughout the show. Though these two represent the leaders of opposing cultures in conflict—Stein’s Polk waxes poetic about the stars, stripes, and manifest destiny, and Cortez’s Santa Anna uses Spanish to intensely declare the power that is Mexico—whether or not the leaders are in collusion is never made clear.
The two shine spotlights onto characters whose lives are bound by the centrifugal forces of love, hope, and desperation. In Ireland, the potato famine was forcing impoverished Irish to desperation, searching for any opportunity that comes along, whether it’s potatoes or a boat ride to the New World. Meanwhile, in Mexico, fathers and brothers are dying in a conflict with the United States over territory that will ultimately come into American control.
We meet an Irish couple, Matthew and Mary Casey (Paul Henry and Megan C.C. Walker), who contemplate a variety of horrifying options when they arrive in America, and ultimately decide to both join the U.S. Army—Mary disguises herself as a male soldier. We also meet the young Mexican cadet Juan Escutia (Kevin Rico Angulo) and his sister Ofelia (Anna Lamadrid), who ends up donning men’s fatigues and entering battle as well. The San Patricios doesn’t shy away from hard historic truths such as war crimes, racism, or stubborn cultural practices, all of which affect the characters.
The play points out that it was desperation that led boatloads of Irish and European immigrants to enlist with the U.S. Army and fight Mexico for the promise of pay. The San Patricios brilliantly depicts the experiences Irish immigrant soldiers endured, including racism and brutality from higher ranks and being ordered to kill fellow Catholics. Besides Matthew and Mary Casey, we also meet three young Irishmen, Samuel, Joseph, and Liam (Jim Goza, Mike Fiore, and Nik Johnson), who represent two brothers and a cousin experiencing different conflicts as the war progresses. Goza also provides live guitar and mandolin throughout the show, giving the perfect Mariachi accompaniment to Lamadrid, and sprightly Irish jigs on the mandolin.
The production is presented with a kind of carnival flair; characters run through circles under the gleaming glare of Polk and Santa Anna and the chaotic, colorful lights. The set design is truly important to the story. The gallows are ever present; the ropes that hang in columns evoke the image of prison bars and are a constant reminder of the fate that eventually befalls the San Patricios. The Irish and Mexicans formed an unlikely understanding as their cultures collided, and The San Patricios depicts this perfectly. It is a beautifully bold statement about how humans can be both friends and enemies, traitors and heroes.
Arts Editor Joe Payne sees both sides of every story. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 21-28, 2014.