Two graduate students working toward their Masters of Fine Arts degrees are jumping final hurdles alone, as they perform one-man pieces based on aspects of their own lives.
Maria Angeles Romero is known for bringing historical Mexican figures to life, as she does in her play “Sueño,” and Kenderick Hardy takes pieces of his own life for “K-nowhere to Run, No-w-here to Hide,” his play about black masculinity.
Romero interprets a 17th-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, in “Sueño.” De la Cruz is widely known in Latin America and Spain.
“Sueño” is Spanish for “dream,” and through the use of multimedia, Romero aims to evoke the experiences, thoughts and psychological hallucinations of de la Cruz’s mind — an experience something like a dream. The multimedia will accompany Romero’s solo performance.
“She’s a woman of reason,” Romero said. “She was a ‘nun-poet-intellectual-protofeminist’ who was bold, charming and witty.”
De la Cruz was a free-thinking nun, scholar, writer and activist at a time when it was considered preposterous for a woman to be educated. Taking a vow of perpetual enclosure — as nuns did in the 17th century — de la Cruz remained inside her convent cell for nearly 25 years. During that time, she wrote numerous plays and controversial essays.
“She was very popular, and many people from all over the world came to see her,” Romero said.
One of those essays caused such an uproar in the Church that de la Cruz was taken to trial. Because she refused to ask the Church for forgiveness, it took away her belongings — most importantly, a 25-year accumulation of books, which was one of the largest private collections in the New World.
“The play starts from the point where she is on trial,” Romero said. “The projections are of what she remembers and what she’s thinking, and it is centered on her quest for immortality.”
Romero, who wrote the play for her MFA theatre thesis work, chose de la Cruz for her piece because she is a the female icons in Mexican culture.
Eventually, people started asking her to write plays for them. One of the plays she wrote and performed was about Kahlo.
Romero said it was much easier portraying Kahlo than de la Cruz.
“I’m so challenged by this particular character,” she said. “Frida is more raw and Sor Juana is intellectual. When I did Frida, it was challenging, but I think I have more Frida qualities than Sor Juana qualities.”
Eric Mayer, stage manager for “Sueño,” said multimedia use is a central dynamic in the play.
“Her use of multimedia in this work allows the audience to see inside the character,” Mayer said. “It also helps bridge or overcome the language barrier of a bilingual presentation.”
Hardy, who performs his spoken-word poetry drama, “K-nowhere to Run, No-w-here to Hide” after “Sueño,” said his play combines fictional and autobiographical material.
“I use multiple characters to tell a story of life on the edge, life in the words and life as poetry,” Hardy said. “The central character, Kahlib, is perhaps my alter-ego, and it is through him that I am able to delve into my life and make connections to who I am.”
The play, set in a small Alabama town, explores a wide range of themes including black masculinity, racial profiling, cultural identity, love and humanity. Hardy achieves this by combining spoken-word poetry with traditional text, song, dance and high-impact movement.
Hardy said he derived the play from a spoken-word poetry CD he co-produced in the summer of 2000 entitled “Apollo’s Poetics.”
“I found I had written a wealth of poetic material, so I compiled, shaped and recorded 17 pieces,” Hardy said. “Five of these original works were then selected for ‘Apollo’s Poetics.’ “
The self-described poet likens his love of performing to ancient Greek culture.
“Apollo, Greek god and son of Zeus, is also known as the god of poetry, sound and prophecy,” Hardy said. “In the same way that the Greeks saw poetry and music as the core of their culture, poetry and music are at the core of my work.”
Both plays opened yesterday at 8 p.m. at Mount Hall Studio Theatre. “Sueño” is performed first, and “K-nowhere to Run, No-w-here to Hide” follows after a brief intermission. Performances will continue until Saturday and start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 for both shows and can be purchased at both the Wexner Center and Drake Union box offices.
