SUENO Comes to UHM's Earle Ernst Lab Theatre
By: Stephi Wild Feb. 28, 2020
The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's Department of Theatre & Dance and Kennedy Theatre are proud to present Sueño, translated and adapted by contemporary Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter José Rivera from Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Sueño, a metaphysical comedy-drama, is directed by MFA Directing candidate Robert Sanchez and will be performed Wednesday, March 25 through Saturday, March 28 at 7:30pm with a 2:00pm matinee on Sunday, March 29, 2020, in the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre at Kennedy Theatre. Tickets are $8-$18. The performance includes harsh language and adult situations and is not recommended for children.
Director Sanchez has had a lifelong interest in the works of Latinx playwrights. According to Sanchez, he selected Sueño, (Dream in Spanish) because he "loves the script" and he "wanted to bring Latinx theatre into the department." He acknowledges that "the program at UHM has a strong Asian theatre program and regularly showcases Western theatre, but Latinx theatre is not frequently presented."
The source material for Sueño, Life is a Dream by Calderón de la Barca, is a classic play of the Spanish Golden Age that takes place in Poland. This modern adaptation takes place in Spain. The world Rivera created in his adaptation is a hybrid of modern dialogue and poetic language. Thematic juxtapositions of revenge versus redemption, reality versus fantasy, and free will versus destiny run throughout this "dramedy" (drama-comedy) as categorized by Director Sanchez. He elaborates, "the play is serious, but it is very funny at times." Costume elements also contrast classical and modern and the set is both abstract and symbolic.
When the play begins, Prince of Spain Segismundo (played by Kalā Muller), has been imprisoned for his 25 years of life without explanation. When presented with freedom he grapples with an uncontrollable desire for vengeance while encountering a cast of complex characters, each driven by individual quests that collide and intertwine. Sueño demands answers to eternal questions involving fate, revenge, dreams, reality, life, honor, God, and love. The lines between dream and reality fracture when Segismundo's brief freedom is played off as a dream.
Tickets to Sueño are on sale online at etickethawaii.com, by phone at (808) 944-2697, and at official outlets. Sales at the Kennedy Theatre Box Office begin on Monday, March 23, 2020. Ticket sales at the Box Office are available Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with extended hours on show days.
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