FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - The Last Stretch!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG



In "Los Angeles Se Han Fatigado / Breathless Angels" 2001
Photo: Hector L. Delgado
Segment 6 of 6

The question came from an audience member at the end of the workshop production in August:

"Will these characters connect

with each other at some point?"


I wanted to scream nooooo!!!!!

But I would have lost the argument.

...but first I needed to take care of one detail I was determined to bring into the play.

Tolkien and I

In my early search I had learned that writer JRR Tolkien had lice  and almost lost his life because of it. Yes, that one of Lord Of The Rings and other brilliant works. I won't get into the details here. And no, lice are not life threatening today in most parts of the world. I was haunted by Tolkien and his lice problems. The challenge was similar to the one I had with the character of Louis XIV (segment 3 of blog). I didn't think it was necessary to have Tolkien as a stand alone character. I am not an expert on Tolkien, but I knew enough about his Silmarillion to know that there was some connection between his Luthien and our Liberty.

Click:  I introduced Tolkien by placing Liberty in a park, reading a passage from Silmarillion, unaware that Dr. Reyes is listening. As the play evolves so does the friendship between Reyes and Liberty, based on their common interest in Tolkien. 

LIBERTY:   (reading) "Húrin cried 'Aurë entuluva! The day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive..."                                         

DR. REYES:  "But the dawn is brief and the day full often belies its promise."
LIBERTY:   (startled) Aurë entuluva? 

Omar Pėrez (Dr. Reyes) and
Rosal Colón (Liberty)

DR. REYES: The cry of a man with hope that, in the face of overwhelming evil, good will overcome in the end. (pointing at the book) ‘Silmarillion’.  

LIBERTY: You know Tolkien’s work? 

DR. REYES:  More than that. I know him.    

LIBERTY:  (pause) You look like a professor.              

DR. REYES:  A scientist. (pause) Are you a student?
LIBERTY: Sort of. (pause) I…I want to change the world.

DR. REYES: (guard enters, parades around them) Me too.

The Characters:

The Ensemble

As is common in ensembles, all actors played more than one character. In addition to their core character, actors played Clean Police, parents at a private school and Louis XIV's court.  This was accomplished by being extremely well organized back stage. Quick costume changes, the circulation of props and the entering/exiting from opposite sides of the stage needed more than a stage hand.

Enter Magic Hands! To avoid excessive traffic and pretensions, I determined that our intern and stage hand Charmaine Santiago, also an actress, would play Magic Hands. Using a pair of flashy golden gloves, the 'hands' floated in and out of the stage receiving and delivering props and/or costume pieces to/from the actors. The audience only sees the hands on stage, never the stage hand's body. 

In summary, the characters and actors - in the order introduced - are:

The Clean Police ....................................   Ensemble
Demetrio (actor,Louis XIV,parent)...........   Jesús Martínez
Georgette (opera singer).........................   Shadia Fairuz
Chic (high end lice consultant) ...............   Elise Hernández
Dr. Reyes (entomologist).........................   Omar Pėrez  
Liberty (activist, parent)...........................   Rosal Colón



FLY BABIES / PIOJOS - The Story

The play opens with the recorded announcement that frames the story: "Borders are closed! Clubs have detectors! Schools are on guard! Malls are off limits! Those suspected of carrying lice, nits, and other types of parasites will not be allowed to travel, to dance, to work, to shop or to gather in public at risk of being arrested by the Clean Police at once! This is the Brown Alert!"  

To prevent a worldwide lice catastrophe, world superpowers agree to declare a common brown alert. With the actors playing multiple roles, the Clean Police delivers the message. 

An upscale elementary private school in the East Side of Manhattan has an outbreak of lice. Chic, a high end lice consultant has been called  in to help the parents deal with the problem. She invites Dr. Reyes, a prominent entomologist, to address the parents. Meanwhile Georgette, an opera singer and one of the mothers in the school is doing everything she can to keep the school lice outbreak a secret, fearing social backlash.

In another part of town, Demetrio an actor of dubious talent, receives the great news that he is being cast as Louis XIV. He is delirious. Life is beyond good. A King! In a nearby park, a young activist by the name of Liberty, rallies people to protest against the brown alert. The individual stories and conflicts escalate to the moment in which they coincide in the park and are suddenly surrounded by the Clean Police. But Dr. Reyes and Liberty assert themselves and soon enough, they all realize that despite their social differences, they are facing a similar situation. The moment leads to the final song "Who Is On Your Side?".

Fly Babies / Piojos is a social satire in which a brown alert means much more than a mere lice outbreak. Misconceptions about who carries lice, how we deal with it socially and what does a 'brown alert' really mean is at the center of this musical play. With only the first act completed and the second act drafted but not finished, we began rehearsals on September 20, 2011 at 1pm. Fifteen years after the first thought about lice crawled into my brain.

October 21,1011 - FINALLY!

Segment 6 of 6

                Thank you

To all my sources of information. They are too many to mention here, but I particularly enjoyed www.madrescontrapiojos.com (mothers against lice) . 

To my muses Rosal and Alejandra, and to Roxana for all those hours of nit picking. They turned out to be fun.

To Desmar for the late night emailed recordings, and for the music. To Tony, for his moves, creativity, patience and good nature.

To our friends from Sering Theater in Antwerp, Belgium for their contribution to our story.

To each actor, musician, designer and crew member in the production. Their trust in me and in the process we set in motion let us walk together towards opening night.  

To my teammates Alvan, Jorge and Arnaldo.

And to our audiences, who so openly shared their lice stories, making for great after-show conversations.

BONUS VIDEO

Ensemble "Mechón a Mechón"

 Photos: Erika Rojas, Video: Rosalba

NEXT BLOG - THE GALLERY

Contact: rrolon@pregones.org

It was time to connect the dots...at last!