Stage Review - Lorca in a Green Dress (Tacoma Little Theatre)
Stage Review - Lorca in a Green Dress
Presented By: Tacoma Little Theatre - Tacoma, WA
Show Run: March 07 - March 23, 2025
Date Reviewed: Friday, March 07, 2025 (Opening Night)
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15 minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca….that’s quite the mouthful. Typical of many Spanish names, the famous Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director’s name was derived from a stacking of generations of family names. Andalusian by birth, Federico García Lorca, or “Lorca” as he is simply known, was popularized for Gypsy Ballads, poetry influenced by and depicting his life among the gypsies in his native Andalusia, a region in Spain. In other parts of the world, he’s more famously known for being a part of the “Generation of ‘27”, a group of poets and other artists who introduced characteristics like futurism and surrealism into Spanish literature. As a result of this progressiveness, Lorca and his fellow artists were often targeted and labeled as communists by the rising facist movement in Spain that drove the Spanish Revolution, with Francisco Franco as its leader. Perhaps because of his socialist-leaning and perceived communist views, or perhaps because he was gay, or even perhaps because his brother-in-law accepted the long vacant position of mayor of Grenada, a week after which not only was he assassinated, but Lorca himself was arrested, Lorca’s life was cut short at the age of 38 at the hands of the Nationalist Militia. There is a lot of mystery around Lorca’s actual death, why he was killed, how exactly he was killed, and where, since his remains have never been found. All that said, it’s pretty easy to deduce that Lorca’s lifestyle, including his advances and subsequent spurning by Salvador Dalí, didn’t mesh with the highly conservative facist movement that was taking control in Spain at the time. It’s these kinds of mysteries that help to make certain artists’ work more enduring, and with Nilo Cruz’s 2003 play, Lorca in a Green Dress, currently running on stage at Tacoma Little Theatre in Tacoma through March 23, Lorca’s legacy is not bound to fade away any time soon. The play, directed by Maria-Tania Bandes B. Weingarden honors the late poet for sure, but it’s also a bellwether and a contrast, showing us how enduring art is and how important it is in a tumultuous political and social climate as a way to express ourselves, but also how fragile this world in which our artistic community is and how we need to be careful so that history doesn’t repeat itself. Lorca was tormented in life by facism, and as Cruz presents in this play, also tormented in death, his play is not just a celebration, but it’s also a warning.
The play is set immediately after Lorca’s death, in a sort of holding area between life and death, a place in which the recently deceased have forty days with which they can come to terms with, firstly, the fact that they are no longer alive, and secondly, with the events in their lives and those that led to their deaths. In this case, Lorca has been sent to “the Lorca room”, an ethereal plane on which he’s joined by other versions of himself, five to be precise, as well as a general and guard, just to make sure he stays on task. Each “Lorca” represents a different aspect of the poet’s life, consciousness, or personality, and they all contribute to helping him deal with his circumstance by recreating past events, relationships, and even dreams from his time among the living. All the while, Lorca fights the program, looking for a way out, a way back to the living, regardless of how many times the group recreates his death for him in an effort to spark a memory and even after it’s explained that the only way back to the living would be as a ghost, floating from place to place, aimlessly. It seems he’d rather do that than accept that his life is over and that he should move on, or ascend to another level of the afterlife. The group is akin to an acting troupe, which should be something Lorca can relate to, and their work, over the forty day period, is done in typical workday fashion, complete with breaks and regular working hours. It’s like a surreal dream state.
The production itself, which is this year’s entry in TLT’s partnership with the University of Washington, Tacoma Theatre Program, reflects this surreal state. The scenic design, from Blake R. York and artist Jen York, feels ethereal. Upon entering the auditorium, the set immediately catches the eye, it resembles a sort of cave, but more wispy and translucent. The stalactites are cloth, like silk hanging from the ceiling, the back wall, ramp, and round moon-like area on the stage are all backlit providing a mood highlighted by a seafoam green hue as a result of lighting that looks like what you’d see around the edges of an eclipse. As the show progresses, Michelle Weingarden-Bandes’ lighting transforms this wonderful set, with subtle changes between memory recreations and real time action or more dramatic turns when the scenes call for it, all this complemented by that moon shaped area on stage that is TLT’s LCD display. Creatively, the entire team that Maria-Tania has assembled combines to create this wonderful space, a space that as much as Lorca tries, he can’t escape, which also includes Dylan Twiner and his sound design. Sounds in the play range from those in the Lorca Room, to the ambience of the memories the other Lorcas recreate for the poet, each well designed and perfectly executed.
Costuming is the final piece of the design here, and Lily Oellerich has done a fine job. Each of the Lorcas and their personalities is well represented by what they are wearing, whether it’s the poet himself, with blood stains still on his clothing, to the Lorca with Bicycle Pants, responsible for Lorca’s dreams and his childhood memories, Lorca as a Woman, representing his female muses, Lorca in a White Suit, his public persona, and Lorca in a Green Dress, who represents the poet’s true self. Each costume reflects these characters excellently, from the woman’s long dress, very feminine, to the more formal white suit, the youthful bicycle pants, and finally the green dress, which definitely reflects what is presented as Lorca’s personality, one in which the line between male and female is more of a shade of gray. The final Lorca is a Flamenco Dancer, one that represents his sensual and dark side, and one that communicates predominately in the language of dance. This costume is exquisite, flowing, red, and black. There is one other character I haven’t mentioned, that is of the Flamenco Guitarist. There is some singing in the play, more on that later, but the guitar provides a constant accompaniment, an underscore of Flamenco performed by John Bussoletti. This is such a wonderful touch to the show, and adds so much to its presentation.
It seems apropos that a play with a poet protagonist should be written poetically. The Spanish language itself is generally poetic in nature, so between the two, Lorca in a Green Dress does have a flow of dialogue that feels like a poem. Oh, one thing on language. You’ll notice that Lorca pronounces his name Federico García Lorca, but pronounces the middle name like “Garthia”. I had to look into this one a bit. Sure, certain regions of Spain typically pronounce their “s”’s as “th”, but that rule doesn’t exist in the Andalusian dialect, and while I figured the play had to be accurate, I felt the needed to figure out why it had to be right, because it surely couldn’t be for that reason. In this dialect, they drop the final “s” in their words, and thus any word with an “s” sound such as this would be replaced by a “th”. So, knowing that, I could rest easier, like I said I figured the play was correct, I just needed to know why, and it does make me appreciate the attention to detail here, it would be easy to just pronounce it as “García”.
The delivery of the dialogue and its poetic nature is important as well. It’s a bilingual play, mostly in English, with some Spanish mixed in, though you really don’t need to know Spanish to understand what’s happening. There are some impressive performances in this cast, not the least of which is Lorca himself, labeled in the program as “Lorca with Blood”. Xander Peña Layden is excellent, his recitation of the dialogue is rhythmic as it should be, he carries himself in a way that makes the audience believe in him as Lorca, and he’s also got quite the singing voice, which he displays at the beginning of Act 2. Xander brings a sense of disbelief, a rebelliousness to the role, something that helps his character fight against the situation he’s in, but also provides a believability in his rebelliousness in life. And while he’s extremely good throughout, his absolute best work is in his final thought-provoking monologue as Lorca, right before the lights fall on the show. That alone is worth the price of admission. Other highlights from the cast include Bil Nowicki as the General. He’s the one charged with keeping Lorca in line, and Bil does this with the posture and the attitude that a someone in this position needs to have. It’s a strong, no-nonsense character, and Bil plays him very well, never wavering. Arwen Dewey as the Flamenco Dancer is also good, communicating in claps and stomps, and having a good command of the style of the dance, assisted with choreography by Marisela Fleites, who plays the dancer on alternate dates. Erik Davis as Lorca in a Green Dress is perhaps the most influential of the Lorcas, which makes sense since this one represents the poet’s true self. Erik plays this character with honesty and heart, and their performance is extremely impactful to how Lorca’s attitude changes in the play. The rest of the group is also good in their roles, and as an ensemble coming together to recreate Lorca’s memories or provide advice to the poet on handling his current situation. Parker Nist is Lorca with Bicycle Pants, Allie Smith is Lorca as a Woman, and Solace Fairbank is Lorca in a White Suit, each bringing wonderful performances to bear in the play. Rounding out the cast is Bailey Stanton Christie as the Guard, who also does nicely in a role that seems to not be sure whose side he is on. It’s a cast that seems to understand that this is a play that has some humor in it, but that its importance cannot be understated.
Lorca in a Green Dress, Nilo Cruz’s 2003 play that explores the poet Federico García Lorca coming to terms with his death at the hands of Nationalist militia at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, as well as his life, before his ascension to another plane of existence in the afterlife. Faced with other Lorcas, components of his consciousness, he relives moments of his life in order to make sense of where he is and how he got there. The play itself is a surreal exercise in self-reconciliation set in an ethereal reality, both a tribute to the artistry of Lorca as a poet and an artist as well as a warning to us all about the potential rise of facism and its impact on the artistic community. The Tacoma Little Theatre production, part of its ongoing partnership with the University of Washington Tacoma Theatre Program, is beautifully designed, diaphanous and delightful, and as much a part of the storytelling as the poetic delivery of the cast is. This poetically written, stunningly crafted, and beautifully performed play is exactly the right kind of bellwether we need right now.
The Tacoma Little Theatre production of Lorca in a Green Dress runs on stage in Tacoma through March 23. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.tacomalittletheatre.com/.
Photo credit: Dennis K. Photography
