Reviewed by:

• Torera by Monet Hurst-Mendoza
• Weston Twardowski

When Elena María Ramírez (Jacqueline Guillén) and Tanok Cárdenas (Jesse Castellanos) ran onto the stage at the opening of Torera, the Alley Theatre’s world premiere production of Monet Hurst-Mendoza’s new play, the gender expectations and social roles that formed the core tension of the show were immediately established. Elena, dressed in a child’s white peasant dress, rapidly climbed a knotted rope representing an orange tree. Tanok, in a boy’s private school uniform, sat in a swing across from Elena. Although a projection had informed the audience that the year was 1992, the costumes could easily have been mistaken for those of a century earlier. The interplay between the potentially period dress and the contemporary setting signaled the importance of tradition in the play: in the Yucatán, history, tradition, culture (and cultural roles) matter. The costuming and the scene’s blocking worked in tandem to define the gender roles assigned to the two principal characters throughout their ensuing journey.

Torera arrived at the Alley after COVID-19 delays. It had been in development for six years, with readings or workshops at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwrights Conference, the Public Theater, Long Warf Theatre, Alley Theatre, and elsewhere. The center of the show is Elena, whom we see at ages 12, 20, and 28 as she navigates her upbringing as the daughter of a poor maid, Pastora Ramírez (Maria Elena Ramirez), who lives in the house of a wealthy retired torero (bullfighter), Don Rafael Cárdenas (Eliud Garcia Kauffman). Don Rafael trains his son, Tanok, to follow in his footsteps, but it is Elena whose greatest ambition is to enter the arena. While the driving action of the plot is Elena’s quest to become a torera, a family drama plays out as well: unbeknownst to Elena, she is the illegitimate daughter of Pastora and Don Rafael, and the sexual attraction she and her half-brother Tanok share causes tension in their “fused-at-the-heart” relationship.

Jacqueline Guillén (Elena), José José Arrieta Cuesta (Ensemble), and Jesse Castellanos (Tanok) in Torera. (Photo: Lynn Lane.)

The script demands physicality, and Tatiana Pandiani, who was credited as both director and choreographer for the Alley production, blended movement and dance to create a visually rich production. Pandiani added short dances and movement sequences into each scene transition to help the production flow across time and space. Occasionally these sequences were led by the named characters, but most often they featured the cast’s two ensemble members (José José Arrieta Cuesta and Carolína Ornelas), who served as dancers and animals. Dance is a motif that runs throughout the script, with references to how bullfighting is a “dance with death”; performing it requires “losing yourself in the dance.” Pandiani used this invocation to further explore the gender dynamics at play. At the end of the opening scene, we saw Elena as a child practicing the highly disciplined bullfighte ’s dance, perfectly striking the positions and marching toward her imaginary target. This action was immediately juxtaposed in the following scene, in which Pastora instructed Elena on how to make [End Page 85] perfect scrambled eggs. As Pastora repeatedly told Elena to take the pan on and off the burner, Elena took exaggerated steps forward and back. She then had to flawlessly plate and serve the food. These regimented movements contrasted with her earlier bullfighting practice, quickly establishing the diffe - ence between permissible and impermissible dances for men and women.

Eliud Garcia Kauffman (Don Rafael), Jesse Castellanos (Tanok), José José Arrieta Cuesta (Ensemble), and Carolína Ornelas (Ensemble) in Torera. (Photo: Lynn Lane.)

Staging the production in the round worked not only in creating a literal arena for the bullfighting sequences but also in highlighting the interpersonal combat that carried the story. In particular, Don Rafael (standing in for patriarchal values and a toxic masculinity that made him unable to connect with...

 审阅者：

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  莫奈·赫斯特-门多萨的《托雷拉》
•  韦斯顿·特沃斯基

当埃琳娜·玛丽亚·拉米雷斯（杰奎琳·吉兰饰）和塔诺克·卡德纳斯（杰西·卡斯特拉诺斯饰）在艾雷剧院全球首演莫奈·赫斯特-门多萨新剧《托雷拉》的开幕式上登台时，性别期望和社会角色构成了核心张力该节目的主题立即确定。埃琳娜穿着儿童白色农家服装，迅速爬上代表一棵橘子树的打结绳子。塔诺克穿着男孩的私立校服，坐在埃琳娜对面的秋千上。尽管投影告诉观众现在是 1992 年，但这些服装很容易被误认为是一个世纪前的服装。潜在的时代服装与当代背景之间的相互作用表明了传统在戏剧中的重要性：在尤卡坦州，历史、传统、文化（和文化角色）很重要。服装和场景的遮挡协同作用，定义了两个主要角色在随后的旅程中分配的性别角色。

托雷拉 (Torera) 在因新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 疫情而延误后抵达巷子。它已经开发了六年，在尤金·奥尼尔戏剧中心的国家剧作家会议、公共剧院、朗沃夫剧院、艾利剧院和其他地方举办了朗诵会或研讨会。这部剧的中心人物是埃琳娜，我们看到她分别是 12 岁、20 岁和 28 岁，她是一个贫穷女仆帕斯托拉·拉米雷斯 (玛丽亚·埃琳娜·拉米雷斯饰) 的女儿，她住在一个富有的退休斗牛士的家里。 （斗牛士），唐·拉斐尔·卡德纳斯（埃柳德·加西亚·考夫曼饰）。唐·拉斐尔训练他的儿子塔诺克追随他的脚步，但埃琳娜最大的野心是进入竞技场。虽然剧情的主线是埃琳娜追求成为托雷拉，但同时也上演了一场家庭剧：埃琳娜不知道的是，她是帕斯托拉和唐·拉斐尔的私生女，并且她和她同父异母的兄弟塔诺克共享性吸引力导致他们“心心相印”的关系紧张。

《托雷拉》中的杰奎琳·吉兰 (Elena)、何塞·何塞·阿列塔·奎斯塔 (José José Arrieta Cuesta) (合奏团) 和杰西·卡斯特拉诺斯 (Tanok)。 （照片：林恩·莱恩。）

剧本需要肢体动作，塔蒂亚娜·潘迪亚尼 (Tatiana Pandiani) 被认为是《巷子里》的导演和编舞，她将动作和舞蹈融为一体，创造出视觉丰富的作品。潘迪亚尼在每个场景过渡中添加了短舞蹈和动作序列，以帮助制作跨越时间和空间的流动。有时，这些序列由指定的角色主导，但最常见的是演员的两名演员（何塞·何塞·阿列塔·奎斯塔和卡罗琳娜·奥内拉斯），他们充当舞者和动物。舞蹈是贯穿整个剧本的主题，提到斗牛是一种“与死亡共舞”；表演它需要“在舞蹈中迷失自己”。潘迪亚尼利用这一调用来进一步探索起作用的性别动态。在开场的最后，我们看到小时候的埃琳娜练习着纪律严明的斗牛舞蹈，完美地击中姿势，向她想象中的目标行进。这一动作立即并列在接下来的场景中，帕斯托拉指导埃琳娜如何制作[完第85页]完美的炒鸡蛋。当帕斯托拉反复告诉埃琳娜将锅放在炉子上或从炉子上取下时，埃琳娜夸张地前后迈着步子。然后她必须完美地装盘并提供食物。这些严格的动作与她早期的斗牛练习形成鲜明对比，很快就确立了男性和女性允许和不允许的舞蹈之间的区别。

《托雷拉》中的埃鲁德·加西亚·考夫曼 (Don Rafael)、杰西·卡斯特拉诺斯 (Tanok)、何塞·何塞·阿列塔·奎斯塔 (José José Arrieta Cuesta) (合奏团) 和卡罗琳娜·奥内拉斯 (Carolina Ornelas) (合奏团)。 （照片：林恩·莱恩。）

全面上演制作不仅为斗牛场景创造了一个真正的竞技场，而且还突出了故事中的人际战斗。特别是唐·拉斐尔（Don Rafael）（代表父权价值观和有毒的男子气概，使他无法与......