by Pa Rock
Culture Vulture
Culture Vulture
This marks the sixth season that the New Carpa Theatre Company
has presented a Christmas pastorela in the city of Phoenix, and it was the
first time that I have been fortunate enough to be in attendance. Basically, the pastorela is a unique retelling
of the Nativity with an overlay of the local social and political
situation.
The plot: God, a
female, has given birth to a human son whom she has named Jesus, and the baby
is at home in Bethlehem. God wants to
spread the word about her son, so she commands the services of an earthly
messenger named Bartolo to guide a family of boat racers named Fernandez from
Sonora, Mexico, across the border and on to Phoenix – where they will board the
Light Rail and go to Bethlehem. Bartolo, who is hard of hearing, winds up
guiding a family of goat raisers named Hernandez across the border and into the
United States.
(Yes, the idea of the Light Rail going to Bethlehem is a bit
far-fetched, but know this: it will get
to Bethlehem years before it ever reaches the West Valley of Phoenix!)
Meanwhile in Phoenix, Sheriff Joe is holding a press
conference to announce that he will soon send an expedition to Mars because he
now believes that is where Barack Obama was born. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, who has
recently in real life been discovered to have been in a romantic dalliance with
one of his staffers, joins forces with Satan (another female) to stop the
Hernandez group from making it to Phoenix and boarding the Light Rail. Horne, who has a sexual identity crisis
during the course of the play, is referred to throughout the production as
“Horney.”
There is a delightful scene in the pastorela where Tom Horne
is brought, bound and gagged, before a panel of inquisitors in Hell including
Muammar Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, Hitler (the chairman of the group), Kim Jung
Il, and J. Edgar Hoover (in drag).
Interestingly, the actor who plays Hitler also plays Sheriff Joe – type casting,
anyone?
Among the people that the Hernandez family meets while
trekking across the desert are Mitt Romney and Barack and Michelle Obama.
Eventually the Hernandez family winds up on Mars where they,
of course, encounter Sheriff Joe and a couple of Martian children who only
speak Spanish.
See, just your basic nativity story with some slight
variations!
Kudos to playwright James E. Garcia who wrote the script,
played one of the minor roles, and manages the New Carpa Theatre Company. He remarked that there is never a shortage
of material in Arizona and at times the annual production just seems to write itself.
It will be interesting to see where the Arizona craziness takes next year's production. The idea of Joe Arpaio going to Mars may seem tame by then!
It will be interesting to see where the Arizona craziness takes next year's production. The idea of Joe Arpaio going to Mars may seem tame by then!
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