El Teatro Campesino will open
”
La Pastorela
”
Nov. 23
The San Juan Bautista Mission was noisy this week. El Teatro
Campesino rehearsed their annual Christmas play in the church every
evening.
”
There’s a reason why we call it hell week,
”
said Stephanie Woehrmann, a publicist for El Teatro,
”
Even though we’re in a church. When we’re in the last week it
gets a little crazy.
”
El Teatro Campesino will open “La Pastorela” Nov. 23
The San Juan Bautista Mission was noisy this week. El Teatro Campesino rehearsed their annual Christmas play in the church every evening.
“There’s a reason why we call it hell week,” said Stephanie Woehrmann, a publicist for El Teatro, “Even though we’re in a church. When we’re in the last week it gets a little crazy.”
The play opens annually the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 23. The troupe alternates between “La Virgen del Tepeyac” and “La Pastorela,” the Shepherd’s Play, which will be performed this year.
It is the story of shepherds who travel in search of the newborn Christ. On their journey Lucifer, Satan and a band of devils try to stop them from reaching the messiah.
“It’s a great tradition every year at the Mission,” Woehrmann said. “This is how we celebrate our holiday with the community.”
Many families see the play year after year, she said. Those who are familiar with the story can look forward to new faces and new flourishes.
This year a woman, Sylvia Gonzales, will play Lucifer. It is a first for the company.
“I’m very excited about it,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales has been with El Teatro for nearly 20 years.
She originally wanted to play Saint Michael. Kinan Valdez, the director, told her to read for Lucifer instead.
“I was honored because it’s always been played by a man,” Gonzales said, “and it would be setting a precedent.”
Gonzales started performing when she was a child.
“I grew up doing pastorelas in Mexico,” she said.
She moved to the United States when she was 15. After the move, Gonzales took a break from performing. She was in culture shock and did not speak English.
Gonzales started acting again after she discovered El Teatro.
“My sister didn’t like it, but I never left,” she said.
There are a lot of new elements in the play this year, Gonzales said.
“It’s a lot more comedic than it’s ever been before,” she said.
Valdez cast Lucifer as a woman in order to celebrate the fact that the majority El Teatro participants are women.
Another woman, Julian Mitchell, will play Saint Michael.
Two sacred, divine beings both being female adds freshness to the play, he said.
Valdez enjoys “La Pastorela” because children and adults can understand the production.
“I feel in love with this show because of the whole fantasy element,” Valdez said. “It balances a dynamic between the sacred and the profane.”
Children play a big role in the production.
“I like it,” Gonzales said. “I like being around the kids. It keeps me young.”
Woehrmann’s two children will act in the play. Hannah, 11, is performing for the third time. Ethan, 7, is performing for the second time.
“They’re both devils,” she said.
Adrian Torres will play the part of Satan. This will be his third time as a devil. “It’s all I’m good for here,” he said.
In the play, Satan comes to the shepherds in disguise. In the past, Torres has been a surfer and a hip hop performer. This year Torres will be Satan disguised as Michael Jackson.
“Everybody knows the King of Pop,” Torres said, “whether you like him or not.”
Torres enjoys performing with El Teatro because he gets to do what he loves and give back to the community.
El Teatro is like a mirror of his life, Torres said. His family made something out of nothing in the United States and so did El Teatro.
The theater troupe has been putting on performances in San Juan Bautista since the 1970s, but first got its start in the fields during the farmworker’s rights movement.
The tradition of performing the Christmas play inside the Mission started with divine intervention, Woehrmann said.
The actors were invited to perform the play inside the church because it started to rain one year.
“Once we were invited in, we never left,” Woehrmann said. “It was a wonderful community-building act of supernatural production.”
La Pastorela is one version of a story that has a long history. The shepherd’s plays may have been brought to Mexico from the Conquistadors, Valdez said.
In Mexico, the plays continued to evolve. They absorbed aspects of Mexican culture.
The tradition continues to evolve. The bilingual, English and Spanish, production of “La Pastorela” reflects the influence San Juan, Valdez said.
“La Pastorela” opens Friday, Nov. 23
Mission San Juan Bautista
408 Second St.
Performances will be Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 16.
Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for seniors and students, and $14 for children under 12. Priority seating is $32. Priority seating is only available by phone or at the box office. Other tickets can be purchased from http://www.elteatrocampesino.com or by calling 623-2444.
