It began in 1998 when I read Octavio Paz’s obituary in the LA Times.  A Nobel Prize recipient in literature, a poet and intellectual, his vast accomplishments were amazing – and he was Mexican!

Evelina Fernandez

Just to be clear, I am not Mexican; I’m a second generation Mexican-American, a Chicana.  My parents were born in Arizona and my grandparents were from the Mexican state of Jalisco. My parents speak Spanglish and I grew up speaking English…mostly. I mean, I like mariachi music, but I really love soul and funk, which is what I grew up listening to. Vicente Fernandez is cool, but give me Marvin Gaye any day. My Spanish is just okay, but when I visit my husband’s family in Mexico, I hardly speak because I’m insecure about it.

Anyway, when I read the Paz obituary, I felt a surprising sense of pride and ownership bubble up and, at the same time, a profound sense of loss and regret for not having known more about him.  His obit ran in newspapers around the world.  He was hailed as one of the great intellectuals of our time – and he was Mexican!  I could’ve kicked myself – How could I have read Neruda and never read Paz?   I promised myself I would pick up a copy of The Labyrinth of Solitude, his series of essays about Mexican thought and culture.  Then, I shoved that thought somewhere deep as I worked on other projects and didn’t come back to it.

Latino Theater Company's "Solitude"

A few years later, I was exploring the idea of writing about alcoholism (can’t go into why, due to the limited word count of this article, ahem…) and was talking to a friend about it.  He (mis)quoted Octavio Paz: “Mexicans drink to confess, Americans drink to forget.”  I asked where Paz had written that and he said in Labyrinth.  And there it was. As I read the essays, it became clear to me that my ancestry (and all of its issues) runs deep within me and my community. Paz’s juxtaposition of Mexican and American cultures was both insightful and mind-boggling – because I am both.

We are both. Our ensemble, the Latino Theater Company, has worked together for 25 years and our body of work comes from a Mexican-American perspective.  The stories we tell are about U.S. Latinos as they are, in English…mostly.  And after so many years, we know our audience.  They like humor, music and drama.  They like to laugh and they love to cry.  Oh, and a few tequila shots and a Mexican corrido thrown in never hurts. This formula has worked well for us over the years.

But, this process was different.  Taking Paz’s text and themes, we began with the music – ’50s mambo, six monologues, six actors, a cellist, a choreographer, a director, and no story – yet.

We had a table read of the monologues and we discussed Labyrinth, which wasn’t easy.  We all had different interpretations of what Paz meant in different essays.  Some of us disagreed with his views and some of us were overwhelmed by how dense it is.  So, we decided to dance!  A very “Mexican” thing to do, according to Paz.

Cast of “Solitude”

We worked for 10 days, experimented with movement and mambo.  The dramatic brass riffs and big band sounds together with the haunting sounds of the cello continue to be core elements of the production today.  We presented a workshop production of movement and the six monologues:  a man haunted by regret, a woman in love with a man who doesn’t love her, a lost young man looking for a purpose, a single mother devoted to her only son, a working-class everyman, and a limo driver who is a “love” expert.  The audience response was positive!  But, didn’t we need a story?

I read a passage in Labyrinth called, “The Day of the Dead,” where Paz talks about the Mexican fiesta, the ritual of it as an escape from the daily grind, an escape from our solitude: “This is the night when friends who have not exchanged more than the prescribed courtesies for months get drunk together, trade confidences, weep over the same troubles, discover that they are brothers, and sometimes, to prove it, kill each other.”  And there it was…the story.

The characters stuck, their relationships were developed, and the play evolved into a stylized theater piece based on text and told through movement, music, humor, drama – a few tequila shots and a Mexican corrido, played on the cello. The mainstage production opened in September 2009 at LATC, and now we are taking it on tour through 2012.

We are extremely excited to be part of RADAR L.A. and we hope to see you all there!  It’s in English …mostly.

Solitude is presented as part of RADAR L.A., an international festival of contemporary theater,June 14-19.  For tickets and more information, visit www.radarla.org

DATES & TIMES: Wed.-Sun. 8:00 pm, June 15-19
TICKETS: $20 ($10 w/ festival flex pass)
RUN TIME: 90 minutes
LOCATION: LATC: Theater 3, Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 South Spring Street, LA
PARKING: $5–6 event parking at several locations off Main and 6th Streets.

Evelina Fernandez is a playwright/actor born and raised in East Los Angeles.  She is the resident playwright for the Latino Theater Company. They’ve been together for more than 25 years (longer than most marriages).  Her other plays include Dementia, Luminarias, L.A. Carmen, Liz Estrada in the City of Angels.  She is currently writing a trilogy following the diaspora of Mexicans in the United States.