CULTURE NEWS
PAGE 8 / WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2014
NEW MEXICO DAILY LOBO
PLAY REVIEW
Budding actors show promise By Graham Gentz
Want the best starting salary? Attend $tart $mart Free Workshop for UNM students on
Your First Salary Negotiation Research salary & benefits Role-play on skills
Saturday, Nov. 15th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dane Smith Hall, Room 234 Register with Women’s Resource Center phone: 277-3716 e-mail: women@UNM.edu.com American Association of University Women UNM’s Women’s Resource Center
Can you sell space?
The Daily Lobo is looking for part-time advertising sales representatives. The Daily Lobo Advertising Sales Team offers real world experience, flexible scheduling, paid training, and the potential to earn fantastic pay— all while working from campus. Please send your resume to advertising@dailylobo.com or call Daven at 277-5656 for more information.
LOBO LIFE Campus Events Coffee and Tea Time 9:30-11:00am LGBTQ Resource Center Pharmacy Career Expo 3:00-9:00pm SUB Ballroom C
Lectures & Readings Dissertation Defense Begins at 9:00am Econ 2021 Gerald A. Hendrickson, Arts & Sciences presents: “Collaborating To Ruin? US National Laboratories And The Impact Of International Research Partnerships.” Dissertation Defense Begins at 11:00am CEC Conference Room Emmalee Jones, Graduate Interdisciplinary Studies presents: “Structural Elucidation of the Interaction between Neurodegenerative Disease Related Tau Protein with Model Lipid Membranes.” Academic Job Search 12:00-1:00pm Zimmerman Library, Room 254 Marty Apodaca from Career Services will give some tips and tricks to finding work in education. CE Graduate Seminar - Uranium Impacts 12:00-1:00pm Centennial Engineering Center
It’s easy to tell just by walking in that something different is happening in the theater space at Working Classroom. The actors stand frozen onstage, set amidst disquieting ambient music and a cityscape of newspapers permeating the background. The performance space is small, making the audience uncomfortable by the proximity to the play seemingly already underway. I couldn’t help but smile as the audience jumped at flitting, disconcerting movement out of the corner of their eyes as actors periodically changed position. Director Rebeca Mayorga, and others involved in the production, have a clear purpose and taste for creating something arresting and disparate. That should excite you. There were a number of small details that enraptured me so much I forgot for a while that I ought to be taking notes. The light and sound design, by Billy Tubb and C.K. Barlow, respectively, was definite and fascinating. A river of cloth was used again and again in lovely and inventive ways as the story of our bocón continued to unfold. “¡Bocón!” meaning “loud mouth” (which will make sense here in a second) has a classic hero’s journey on display: Miguel, a young boy from a nonspecific Central American country (played by Jess Liesveld), finds his simple life and family disrupted by the presence of bellicose soldiers. In one fell swoop, Miguel is introduced to both the mundane and distressing when his parents are taken, as well as the more uncanny and metaphorical, when his physical voice is literally lost. The play then shifts mostly into magical realism and allegory, but with plenty of poignancy, for disenfranchised transients
lost and forgotten by the United States’ relationship to the parts of the ignored hemisphere inhabited by brown people. Miguel’s call to adventure summons him to trek to City of Angels to make things right. The necessary supernatural mentor is none other than The Weeping Woman herself, La Llorona (played by Sonya Tijerina). Tijerina plays various other parts in the production and nails each and every one. She can be powerful, disconcerting, affecting, hilarious and almost anything. And while her shear amount of stage time allows her many opportunities to impress, she is by no means unique amongst the cast as an exceptional performer. Liesveld does a superb job carrying the driving force of the piece, especially since so much silent emoting is required for most of the play. Roberto Morales is incredibly memorable for his masterful and hilarious appearance as a duende, a tricksy sort of goblin. Juliana Gorena and Michelle Perez also play many parts and do so with gusto and humanity. Joel Garcia gives plenty of support as the voices of adulthood. There is really something immediately striking about each of the performers. They’re young — most likely barely in their teens — but there is something remarkably special about what’s happening onstage, something greater than the sum of its parts. There is a professionalism and intensity of purpose which instills every word to the smallest movement. And the entire play is funny. While it’s true that the performers are young, there is no impression that they’re simply goofing off on stage for attention. There is no sense of conciliatory praise from the audience for the sake of a compulsory pat on the head. I was asked once personally what “professional theatre”
needed to distinguish itself from community theatre. Perhaps this is it. The whole of the UNM theatre and dance department and Albuquerque ought to take serious note of the performers and, certainly, Working Classroom by and large. These kids are going places. The standing ovation was a nobrainer, and the crowd seemed to agree. “¡Bocón!” is practically required viewing for anyone even vaguely interested in theatre and anyone even a little curious about art that challenges and innovates. It’s good to find a classroom that works. So, hell, you might as well learn something. Graham Gentz is a theatre and movie reviewer for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
¡Bocón! by Lisa Loomer Directed by Rebeca Mayorga Working Classroom 423 Atlantic Ave SW Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 3:00 p.m. Runs through Nov. 16 Tickets $10 Saturday, Burgers n’ Brew Night, $25 (Beer and burgers included) For tickets or more information contact Meggan Gomez at (505) 242-9267 or meggan@workingclassroom.org
campus calendar of Events
1026 Presentation by Anastasia Ilgen from Sandia Labs on Uranium Impacts. Brown Bag Seminar Series Begins at 12:00pm Castetter Hall 100 Elly Van Mil & Monican Lynn Fishel present: “Introduction to Finding Funding with PIVOT and Other Sources.” Panel: African Asylum-Seekers Struggle against Imprisonment in Israel Begins at 12:00pm SUB Sandia Room This panel presents an inspiring story of Activism and Civil Disobedience that succeeded in creating a change. Water & Energy in New Mexico: Water Planning Begins at 12:00pm George Pearl Hall, Room P139 Elaine Hebard, local water planner. will be discussing how to “think like a watershed” in terms of water planning, management and development. Understanding and Finding Assistantships 3:00-4:00pm Zimmerman Library, Room 254 Assistantships and Benefits Chair Elena Friot shares valuable information about graduate assistantships at UNM. IFCE Research Showcase 2014
5:00-7:00pm Travelstead Hall The Showcase is an excellent “onestop-shop” to learn more about the breadth of research being done in the department.
Theater & Films Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas Begins at 7:30pm Popejoy Hall Mid Week Movie 4:00 & 7:00pm SUB Theater Now showing: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Meetings IT Agents Meetings 9:30-11:00am SUB Fiesta A&B UNM Bureau of Economic Research 12:00-2:00pm SUB Acoma A&B
Business
SUB Retail and Committee Meeting 12:00-1:30pm SUB Luminaria
&
Marketing
Martial Arts Expo 6:15-8:30pm Johnson Center Main Gym Annual UNM Martial Arts Expo featuring leading martial artists from around Albuquerque and UNM.
Student Groups & Gov. Christians on UNM 11:30-1:30pm SUB Scholars
Job
5:00-7:00pm Lobo A Mock Trial Club 7:00-9:00pm SUB Isleta ASUNM Finance Committee 5:30-10:00pm SUB Lobo B ASUNM Steering & Rules Committee 5:30-10:00pm SUB Luminaria
UNM Dream Team Meeting 12:00-1:00pm SUB Cherry/Silver
Powerful Movement of Educated Sisters 6:00-9:00pm SUB Santa Ana A&B
Mortar Board Meeting 2:00-3:00pm SUB Mirage/Thunderbird
College Democrats 6:00-8:00pm SUB Sandia
Nourish International International Projects Committee 3:00-4:00pm SUB Fiesta A&B
Lobos for Christ Meeting 6:00-7:00pm SUB Alumni
UNM Development Foundation 3:00-4:30pm SUB Santa Ana A&B Mexican Student Meeting 7:00-9:00pm SUB Alumni
Workshops Graduate Workshops 12:00-1:00pm Zimmerman, Room 254 Navigating the Hidden Market
Sports & Rec
Association
NavNight 6:00-10:00pm SUB Acoma A&B Engineers Without Borders Meeting
Queer Straight Alliance 7:00-9:00pm SUB Fiesta A&B Amnesty International 7:00-8:00pm SUB Trail/Spirit
Find future events on the Daily Lobo Mobile App & www.dailylobo.com