Habla el Director

Jáquez is back … and he’s out for blood
Before leaving town, Ana Dorado, Miracle’s former Marketing Assistant, interviewed director Daniel Jáquez about his upcoming work on Te llevo en la sangre, Miracle’s Spanish-language production opening at the end of January. Rehearsals are just getting started and new discoveries are coming to light as we dig deeper and deeper through this dark comedy’s many layers. For example, we are now just learning more about an actual murderer (el descuartizador de Constitución) from the same time and place as our play. Hmmm... Could there be a connection? Stay tuned, dear readers, as we unearth more about this story-behind-the-story in the next Insider. For now …. read on, as director Jáquez shares his thoughts about this play that gets under your skin.

Ana Dorado: This is a weird play. How is it viewed by Argentines and where is it placed within Latin American literature, aside from winning the 1999 Primer Premio de Dramaturgia from the Instituto Nacional de Teatro in Argentina?
Daniel Jáquez: I have no idea, but I don't think it is weird. It is beautifully complex, and its ability to shift realities and presentation structure to invite the audience into a world that is historical and resonant while making use of comedy and melodramatic tools is brilliant.

What is the role or the significance of the Locutor character throughout the play? We see him telling the love stories of the fictional radionovela characters, but we also see him narrating the love stories of the play’s main characters such as radio stars Linda, Dante and Mabel. 
He is our narrator, our Rod Serling. He takes us into the world of the play and is always in the present, doing his job from an omniscient point of view ... with a wink he tells us, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

We have a variety themes going on in this play including ‘progress’ and politics. What does this layering of political subtext add to the play? 
The playwright Mónica Silver was trying to explore her then-belief that love did not exist, except in fiction. By the way, she recently mentioned she now believes in love. I think she placed the play in 1955 because of the power of radio melodrama and passion exhibited by the Argentinean media ... and she might have been born around then ... so it is nostalgic in a way. Politics are not simply layered in the play; they are integral to the story and deepen the significance of the actions of the characters in the play.

Can you describe the world of the play for us? 
A black-and-white murder mystery, a dark comedy. Chaos in society, change is in the air. Television replacing radio, a government coup d’état, a shifting of moral values, and hypocrisy. 

What can we expect to see? 
Hilarious performances by some of the best Spanish speaking actors in Portland. You should expect to laugh and cry at the absurdity of the situations as the characters make the best of a tough world where two societies collide in the name of love.