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New Latino theater troupe to stage Spanish play in Vista
PAM KRAGEN
Staff Writer
A new Spanish-language play that played to capacity houses at Cal State San
Marcos last December will be revived this weekend with two performances in
Vista.
"Dona Criba," written by CSUSM world languages professor Carlos von Son, will be presented in Spanish with English supertitles projected above the stage. The production will be sponsored by two North County Rotary Clubs and staged by Grupo Teatral Dionisio, a theater group formed by von Son's former students, who first presented "Dona Criba" last winter as part of his Viva el Teatro class.
Von Son said that he's honored and humbled that the play is being restaged.
"There was an overwhelming response from the community after we did it in
December, and there was a feeling that maybe it should be brought back because
many people missed it the first time," von Son said. "I was so honored and
amazed at the response. Maybe there's not enough Spanish plays out there, and
this fills a need."
The play tells the story of Dona Criba, the telephone operator in a small, rural
town in Central Mexico in the 1980s. Dona Criba has served as the town's nerve
center for decades, but her livelihood and sense of purpose are threatened when
the government brings new technology ---- automatic long-distance service ----
to the town's residents.
Von Son now lives in Vista, but he spent many years in Central Mexico. In one of
these towns, he saw how the construction of a new road opened up the village to
the outside world for the first time in centuries ---- bringing both good and
bad fortune.
An aspect of von Son's play is how the town's sense of history is manipulated by
the government. Dona Criba, who has served as the town's record-keeper and
historian, is rendered obsolete in the government's effort to control the town's
future by installing long-distance service.
"She listens to pretty much all the conversations in the town and then makes up
her own narrative that she shares with her friends. These two friends share it
with other people in the town and then you have the town narrative," von Son
said. "Writers go through the same process. We listen to events and then we add
from our own personal encyclopedia and from our imagination. Then we put these
elements together as a narrative."
Von Son said that he hopes to create a program at Cal State San Marcos where
students can minor in Spanish theater, and if there is enough interest, it might
someday become a major at the university. The newly formed theater troupe, Grupo
Teatral Dionisio (named for the Greek god of entertainment, Dionysus), plans to
present more works in Spanish in the future.
