San Diego’s Grant Hill will see a unique bilingual, community-centered Dia de los Muertos memorial performance by Chronos Theatre Group this November 1-2nd. The first night will showcase a reading of the longest-running play in Spain, “Don Juan Tenorio” by Jose Zorilla. The second night a modern Chicano version “Johnny Tenorio” by Carlos Morton will be performed in a mixture of English, Spanish, and Spanglish. By watching the readings on both nights, audiences can compare and contrast the cultural and philosophical differences between Catholic Spain and Aztec Mexico and their traditional celebrations of the Day of the Dead. These two readings at Victory Theater will mark Chronos’ seventh annual Dia del los Muertos celebration.
In addition to the performances, there will also be a traditional altar dedicated to the memories of the local residents of the area around the theater in Grant Hill and surrounding neighborhoods. The historic Victory Theater in Grant Hill, a silent movie theater built in 1913 which has been turned into a live theater by Technomania Circus, has partnered with Chronos Theatre Group, which specializes in presenting works from a variety of world cultures and time periods to modern American audiences, to reach out to the local community over both nights of the traditional Days of the Dead celebration. Admission to both readings will be by donation only, and there will be opportunities for audience participation in the event as well as in constructing the altar.
On November 1st, Chronos will present a staged reading of the perennially popular Spanish play, “Don Juan Tenorio” by Jose Zorilla, directed by Chronos Artistic Director Celeste Innocenti, an edited version of the English translation by N. K. Mayberry & A. S. Kline. This highly entertaining morality play about the famous rake Don Juan has been performed in Spain every November 1st since 1844. The colorful legend of Don Juan, including his dinner with the ghosts of his victims, even inspired a surrealist version designed by Salvador Dali. In conjunction with Victory Theater’s Technomania Circus, there will be blacklight effects, and audience participation is encouraged in the spirit of the evening.
On November 2nd, we are proud to present a reading of “Johnny Tenorio” by Carlos Morton, directed by Goyo Flores, a noted Chicano actor, director, and educator and friend of the playwright. Inspired by the traditional story, Morton creates a modern Chicano version, using a mix of English, Spanglish and traditional Spanish. Like Don Juan (“the most interesting man in the world”), Johnny is a lady-killer and a deadly enemy, and his use of Spanglish conveys a modern sophistication and worldliness in the same way that Don Juan’s mastery of Italian and other idioms allows him to use empty but beautiful words to gain the hearts of women and power over other men.
In the modern version, set in San Antonio, Texas, Johnny Tenorio meets a similar earthly fate to that of Don Juan, but with a very different point of view about the afterlife. The difference between the two plays lies in the contrasting philosophies of Catholic Spain, where a moment of repentance leads to eternal life, and the Aztec philosophy that we are always living in eternal life – so we might as well party now, as well as when we’re dead!
Thursday, November 1st at 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at the Victory Theater, 2558 Imperial Avenue, San Diego, CA 92102