‘Sangre de Maíz: Bullet Rituals in Chiapas’

El Teatro Espejo Theatre Company is celebrating its 25th year on campus with a production they have conceived, written and performed. “Sangre de Maíz: Bullet Rituals in Chiapas,” focuses on the corporate invasion of Chiapas, Mexico that is causing a crisis for the Mayan indigenous people.

Under the direction of Theatre Arts Professor Manuel Pickett and Teatro member Andrea Porras, the company is made up entirely of CSUS students and alumni. Audience members may be surprised that “Sangre de Maíz” is not the average play.

“It doesn’t even run in a linear fashion,” said Teatro member Amanita von Meier, “It’s epic in nature; each section of the play, each skit, could be run in itself. There’s no linear form. You could even rearrange the scenes and it would still make sense.”

The play focuses on five aspects of the situation in Chiapas, and through dramatizations based on testimony, political satire, song and choral poetry, each aspect is presented. The sections of the play are Historical/Spiritual, School of the Americas (a school for assassins located in Georgia), the Victims, N.A.F.T.A., and Zapatistas (these are the Mayan rebels who have emerged because of the conflict).

“We tried to visualize each one of these areas: What did we want the audience to see, to hear, to feel? And each one of those areas was taken by a group member [to research]. It’s called a collective creation,” said Pickett. Through research culled from books, songs, oral history, and even the Internet, group members brought their knowledge to the production and together they wrote it.

Since this is Teatro Espejo’s 25th year, the members wanted to choose a meaningful subject and write the play themselves, rather than performing a play that someone else had written.

“We chose Chiapas because we feel as Chicanos that we owed this to our ancestors, to our elders, our younger brothers and sisters. Too many times history has gone unrecognized,” Porras said. One of the main goals of “Sangre de Maíz is to show Americans what is going on, since we don’t hear about this situation in the news.

“Although we are Chicanos in the U.S., we want to make people aware of what’s happening to the Mayans in Chiapas,” said Pickett. “We try to keep the characters in the play alive by not making them look undignified, or for the audience to pity them. They don’t need pity.”

The title of the play, “Sangre de Maíz,” means “blood of the corn.”

“When you ask what the Mayan people want, all they want are the basics: corn, water, and a place to plant that corn,” said cast member Nicole Limón. “Sangre is the bloodshed, whether it be physical death or spiritual death of the people.” The play is mostly in English, so non-Spanish speakers will have no trouble understanding what the play is about.

Although the subject matter of this play is somber, the cast members say that is not the feeling the audience should get. It’s definitely life. It has its wings and its horns,” said Porras.

Having written the entire play by themselves, El Teatro Espejo will present a unique production. Porras said, “It’s an honor to put in our own voice our respect to this movement, our respect to the fight and the resistance of our brothers and sisters.”

“Sangre de Maíz” will run May 6-9 and 13-16. Admission is $7 students, $10 general. For tickets and information call 278-6604.