Milagro Presents The World Premiere Of AMOR ANEJO

Starting October 17, Milagro presents the World Premiere of Amor Añejo, an original new play directed by Elizabeth Huffman. Amor Añejo runs from October 17 - November 10, 2019 on the Milagro MainStage.

Milagro kicks off Season 36 with the world premiere of Amor Añejo. Our 24th annual original work, this year's bilingual Día de Muertos production dives into a world of aging, loss, and love.

Like a finely aged tequila, the love of long-lasting romance is sweet and heady. Hector and Rosalita's journey is full of highs and lows but they hold hands on the ride for decades, until the very last drop. Until one crosses over to el otro lado, the other side... That's when Bombón steps in, the shape-shifter of the underworld, Huéhuécoyotl, to guide their hearts back to the place where death can never part them, in memories and dance, on el Día de Muertos.

Elizabeth is delighted to return to direct her fourth show here at Milagro theatre and her first time writing and creating a Diá de Los Muertos show. Other shows at Milagro include: Watsonville, Some Place Not Here, American Night, Oedipus El Rey. Elizabeth's play, Bon temp Roulez at the Shakespeare Café, now a musical currently in development in Pittsburgh, was commissioned and translated into German and she directed it's second international production last season for Bremer Shakespeare Company. Her other play, the solo show Not My Revolution has been performed in Portland, Albuquerque, New York, Hanau and Bremen Germany. She is currently writing and developing an Asylum project: The Sphere of Human Follies with her production company Chain Reaction Theatre. Other Portland directing projects include: King John, Lion in Winter, Mary Stuart (NWCTC), Antony and Cleopatra (PAE), November ( JANE, a theatre company), Ladies Man (Clackamas Rep), Oedipus the King, Trojan Women (CGTO). Elizabeth is also an actress and will be traveling to Albuquerque in January to perform in the first regional production of the Broadway show: Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus by Taylor Mack. She hopes you enjoy today's show and that you will return to see the other great shows in Milagro's 36th season: Con Todo Corazón.

This is an ancient festivity that has been much transformed through the years, but which was intended in pre-Hispanic Mexico to celebrate children and the dead. Hence, the best way to describe this Mexican holiday is to say that it is a time when Mexican families remember their dead, and the continuity of life.

Two important things to know about the Mexican Day of the Dead (Día de los muertos) are: It is a holiday with a complex history, and therefore its observance varies quite a bit by region and by degree of urbanization. It is not a morbid occasion, but rather a festive time.

The Day of the Dead can range from being a very important cultural event, with defined social and economic responsibilities for participants (exhibiting the socially equalizing behavior that social anthropologists would call redistributive feasting, e.g. on the island of Janitzio in Michoacan state), to being a religious observance featuring actual worship of the dead (e.g., as in Cuilapan, Oaxaca, an ancient capital of the Zapotec people, who venerated their ancestors and whose descendants do so to this day, an example of many traditional practices that Spanish priests pretend not to notice), to simply being a uniquely Mexican holiday characterized by special foods and confections (the case in all large Mexican cities.) In general, the more urban the setting within Mexico the less religious and cultural importance is retained by observants, while the more rural and Indian the locality the greater the religious and economic import of the holiday. Because of this, this observance is usually of greater social importance in southern Mexico than in the northern part of the country.

ENSEMBLE
Yolanda Porter | Rosita Cuesta Ramirez, Ensemble
Yesenia Lopez | Rosalita's mother, The Granddaughter, Ensemble
Johnnie Torres | The Son in Law, Ensemble
Ricardo Vazquez | Hector Ramirez, Ensemble
Laura Di Mare | Hector's Mother, Daughter, Ensemble
Carlos Manzano | The Grandson, Ensemble

CREATIVE TEAM
Director | Elizabeth Huffman
Scenic Designer | Kyra Sanford
Lighting Designer | Robert Reimanis
Costume Designer | Amber Black
Sound Designer | Jared Jonas
Props Master | Kyra Sanford
Stage Manager | Abby Morgan
Technical Director | Evan Holt
Production Manager | Rachele Holm
Board Operator | TBD

MORE INFORMATION
milagro.org | https://milagro.org/event/amor-anejo/