VIDA play series examines identities

IU’s Spanish theater group Vision, Identity, Drama, and Art will put on three one-act plays in Spanish at the John Waldron Arts Center.

VIDA will perform the plays as part of the Bloomington Area Arts Council’s 2007-08 Performance Series starting at 8 p.m. today through Saturday.

Now performing its third major production, VIDA selects one-acts sharing a common theme. This year’s theme is identidades (identities). Doctoral student and VIDA founder Marda Rose said each play carries a message of identity in distinct ways because they each take place in different countries and during different time periods.

“I incorporated female and male authors, each from different time periods,” she said. “I wanted to expose people to identity through different viewpoints.”

For instance, “The Tableau of Wonders” (El retablo de las maravillas) takes place in Spain in 1615. Rose, who directed the one-act, compares it to the Oriental story, The Emperor’s New Clothes.

In the play, two men visit a town to show a magical tableau under the guise that only real Christians can see it.

In reality, however, the presenters of the tableau are con-artists. The townspeople must pretend to see the tableau to prove their status as Christians.

Sophomore Jess Meyer plays Juana in the one-act. Meyer joined VIDA last fall because she wanted a chance to practice Spanish and acting.  

“Working with VIDA and performing in a Spanish language play has taught me about the difficulties of expressing oneself in a language and in an environment that are different from the norm,” she said. “Sometimes, I will deliver a line and think that the delivery went pretty well, only to discover later, during notes, that the emotion I was conveying seemed ambiguous and the line itself was unintelligible.

It’s a learning process, exploring how to most effectively convey my thoughts, emotions and words to the audience.”

Rose’s goal when she began VIDA was to educate students through practice. Most VIDA members are undergraduate students, and she wanted to provide them with the opportunity to refine their Spanish speaking skills.

“Speaking Spanish for an audience makes learning more real,” she said. “We use the language in class, but we don’t have many places in Bloomington to actually speak. I wanted to offer a space for students to practice expressing themselves.”

Along with this mission, Rose wanted to offer community members a chance to experience different cultures.

She said live theater ties the Hispanic community to the University community, bringing a culture that’s prevalent in the United States to the public eye.

She stressed that it gives people access to learning and understanding culture and a chance to discover similarities.

Performance/Technical Director Marc Tschida reinforced Rose’s belief that Spanish theater has the potential to undermine ignorance and cast light on different cultures.

“I feel it is important to bring to the community because productions like these help bring a spotlight to just how unique the Bloomington community is,” he said. “These productions allow us to reach out to an underserved group in town, and it highlights the diversity of the town.”

Tschida said the VIDA performances have been the only foreign language production featured at the Waldron Arts Center, though next a Polish theatre group called Theatre of the 8th Day will perform. Judging by previous VIDA performances, Tschida expects a crowd between 60 to 150 theatergoers.