Photo Flash: Main Street Theater Presents THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS

Main Street Theater opened its 34th season with the English-language premiere of Caridad Svich’s The House of the Spirits, based on the best-selling novel by Isabel Allende.  With previews September 5, 6, and 9, The House of the Spirits opened Thursday, September 10, and runs through October 11 at Main Street Theater – Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd.  (There are no performances on September 11 or October 9.)  Performances are on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.  Tickets range from $20 - $36, depending on date and section, and are on sale in person at the Main Street Theater Box Office, 2540 Times Blvd., via phone at 713.524.6706, or online at www.mainstreettheater.com.

Caridad Svich’s adaptation of Isabel Allende’s stunning, sensual, best-selling novel was commissioned for NYC’s Repertorio Espanol, where the Spanish-language version is currently on stage through November 2009.  The play is told from the point of view of the youngest of three generations of women, Alba, whose swirling memories - frightening and amusing, lyrical and fantastic - illuminate the stage as she records her family's history and ultimately finds the strength to recover her own story.   MST’s production will be the English-language premiere of this play which critics call “a tumultuous and supernatural family saga that restores the story’s vibrant magical realism.”

The House of the Spirits charts the rise and fall of the Trueba family in an un-named Latin American country (reminiscent of Chile). The piece spans the 1920s through the 1970s, as the country moves through enormous sociopolitical changes that culminate in a devastating dictatorship.  Author Allende complemented the production at Repertorio Espanol with, "It was a true celebration to watch the show…it’s extraordinary because it is presented with immense creativity and originality.  The novel’s spirit was replicated in the play.  It's very authentic.”

Just this summer The House of the Spirits/La Casa de los Espiritus and its production at Repertorio Espanol have been honored with Seven 2009 HOLA Awards including Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting for Caridad Svich.  Repertorio Espanol’s production has been extended through November 20, and Main Street is honored to be able to offer the English-language premiere while the Spanish-language premiere is running.  MST’s production also marks the Houston premiere of any of Svich’s works.

Caridad Svich is a US Latina playwright, translator, songwriter and editor whose work was recently profiled in the July/August 2009 issue of American Theatre magazine. Her play The House of the Spirits (based on Isabel Allende's novel) premiered this February at Spanish Repertory/NY under Jose Zayas' direction and is still in repertory through the fall (www.repertorio.org), Instructions for Breathing premiered at Passage Theatre/NY in April under Daniella Topol's direction, and Wreckage at Crowded Fire Theatre/CA in May under Erin Gilley's direction. Among other key works: 12 Ophelias, Any Place But Here, Alchemy of Desire/Dead-Man's Blues, Fugitive Pieces, Iphigenia...a rave fable, The Tropic of X, The Labyrinth of Desire and The Booth Variations.  In Texas her works have been seen at Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas) and Salvage Vanguard Theater (Austin).  She has edited several books on theatre and performance including Trans-Global Readings (Manchester University Press) and Divine Fire (BackStage Books). S he has translated nearly all of Federico Garcia Lorca's plays as well as contemporary works from Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Cuba. She is alumna playwright of New Dramatists, founder of NoPassport theatre alliance & press, associate editor of Routledge's Contemporary Theatre Review and contributing editor of TheatreForum. Her works are published by TCG, Playscripts, Smith & Kraus and more. She is member of PEN American Center, The Dramatists Guild and is featured in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latino History. She holds an MFA from UCSD.

Says Allende, “It is very strange to write one’s biography because it is just a list of dates, events and achievements. In reality the most important things about my life happened in the secret chambers of my heart and have no place in a biography. My most significant achievements are not my books, but the love I share with a few people, especially my family, and the ways in which I have tried to help others. When I was young, I often felt desperate: so much pain in the world and so little I could do to alleviate it!  But now I look back at my life and feel satisfied because few days went by without at least trying.”

That said, Allende, on her website, acknowledges the necessity of a biography.  She was born in 1942 in Chile.  She worked as a journalist in Chile and Venezuela.  She has taught and lectured all over the United States in addition to Chile and Venezuela. She was written 3 “Theater Plays in Chile,” as she calls them: El Embajador, La Balada del Medio Pelo, and Los Siete Espejors, but is most widely recognized as a novelist.  Her books include The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, Paula, Daughter of Fortune, Portrait in Sepia, The City of the Beasts (young adult novel), My Invented Country, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (young adult novel), Forest of the Pygmies, (young adult novel), Zorro, Inés of My Soul, and The Sum of Our Days.  The House of the Spirits and Of Love and Shadows have already been made into movies, and film-versions of Aphrodite, Eva Luna and Gift for a Sweetheart are in production.  The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Stories of Eva Luna, Paula, and Zorro have all been adapted into plays.  Others of her works have been adapted into opera and ballet.

Allende has received numerous degrees and honorary degrees in addition to countless awards, including Best Novel of the Year in Chile for The House of the Spirits which has since been translated into twenty different languages worldwide.

MST Executive Artistic Director ReBecca Greene Udden directs The House of the Spirits.  Last season Ms. Udden appeared on stage in the Houston premiere of Wendy Wasserstein’s Third at MST.  Pablo Bracho is Assistant Director.  Coming off of her hit run of Awake and Sing! at MST, Luisa-AmarAl Smith returns for House....  The rest of the cast includes Orlando Arriaga, Eva De La Cruz, Alexander Garza, Séan Patrick Judge, Chelsea Ryan McCurdy (Ps and Qs), Rosarito Rodríguez, Laura Michelle Salas, and Richard Solis (Anna in the Tropics).

The design team includes Jodi Bobrovsky (set design), Deborah Anderson (costume design), David Gipson (lighting design), Andrew Harper (sound design), and Meghan C. Hakes (properties design).  Colette Wellman is the production stage manager.

Photo credit: www.RicOrnelProductions.com