A tale of two Mikes
By Glenda Robinson August 8, 2008 San Miguel de Allende 

Theater
The Last Ride
Tue–Sat, Aug 19–23, 7:30pm
Sun, Aug 24, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos

I check my camera battery, wondering how the two Mikes will be dressed for our photo shoot. Will Mike the Playwright be wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbows, an overfed Golden Retriever snoozing at his feet?

Will Mike the Director be sporting a beret and Gucci loafers with no socks? Alas, no. I open the door to find my friends casually clad, with the director in a characteristically irreverent (and somewhat hole-ridden) “Save Water—Drink Beer” T-shirt.

These two Mikes—Gottlieb and Hager—have hooked up to debut an original musical drama here in San Miguel. The Last Ride, which Hager wrote and produces, takes place in a truck stop cafe in New Mexico. As the curtain opens, a group of oddball characters have gathered to celebrate the birthday of local hero Dusty Evans. Within minutes, they learn that he has just been killed in a rodeo accident. Stunned, they decide to go ahead with their celebration to honor his life, unaware that a disembodied Dusty has joined the party to tell his friends’ offbeat stories through both narration and song. Through this highly entertaining format, we learn each character’s surprising secret. I ask Mike Hager how he came to create The Last Ride.

Hager: I’ve been writing and publishing songs for over 30 years, holding back a few of them with the concept of someday using them in a play. When I was in college, I spent a summer at an 8,000-acre ranch north of Sacramento. (As a city boy, there’s nothing quite like confronting a 1,000-pound steer at your first roundup!) Through that summer, I grew to love country humor and the storytelling aspect of country music. One day last year I started fooling around with the idea for the play and the next thing I knew, The Last Ride was done, incorporating seven of my songs and reflecting the love for country music and humor that I developed as a kid.

GR: Mike Gottlieb, in addition to directing, you’re also playing the lead and singing these songs. What has that been like so far?

Gottlieb: I started writing songs and playing guitar when I was 10, but making music hasn’t exactly been a focus of my life. And I’m hardly the rodeo type—I’m a California city boy too. So I am partly sweating bullets and partly really excited about playing this role. It will be something totally new for me.

GR: How and why did the two of you decide to work together?

Hager: Gottlieb came highly recommended as a skilled director who recently pulled off a terrific production of Dean Taylor’s The Loner. My friends in the theater community told me that he’s easy to collaborate with and that people like acting under his direction. We hit it off immediately and I loved his perspective on The Last Ride. Even though I’m a theatrical novice, he immediately understood what I was trying to make happen.

Gottlieb: For my part, it is a rare opportunity to bring a play to life for the first time. Mike Hager has written a terrific piece. And a good play is hard to find.

Hager: People should know a few things about this show. First, we’re doing a full production with a complete set designed by Gerry Holmes, who did the very inventive set for last year’s The Diary of Anne Frank in the Santa Ana. And we have assembled a very strong 11-member cast, including the terrific John Wharton (Prelude to a Kiss), Seth Sharp, a magnetic young actor (Sex, Lies and Quilting), and the very talented Ana Bensaud (Impossible Marriage).

Gottlieb: They should also know that it is not a downer, but a funny, poignant and ultimately uplifting story about relationships. Right before his accident, Dusty tells his friend Frank that he’s going to change his life, settle down and ask Mustang, the female lead, to marry him after their on-again, off-again 10-year courtship. They uncover a ring in a box on Dusty’s body and Frank brings it to the bar. In the end, Mustang finds love in a way she never expected.

GR: I understand that this production will be a benefit for Casita Linda.

Hager: Yes. I’m a long-time supporter of their work building homes for poor families in the campo around San Miguel, so all our profits will go to building more houses. What’s more, we’re offering the community a chance to participate in staging The Last Ride and supporting Casita Linda at the same time. You can be an Executive Producer (5,000-peso donation) and receive six complimentary tickets on your preferred night(s), an autographed poster, a DVD of the play and optional acknowledgement in the playbill. You also can participate at the Producer level (2,500 pesos) and the Co-producer level (1,000 pesos). Call Casita Linda Executive Director Jean Gerber at 154-9446 or write her at mjngerber@yahoo.com for more details and to get a donor form.

The Last Ride tickets go on sale at the Teatro Santa Ana box office and at La Conexión on August 10.

Exploring stage languages

Theater
Alone with Marilyn
Thu, Aug 14, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
100 pesos (in Spanish)

Cromosoma Theatre is an association of young actors, artists and technicians from the city of Guanajuato. They get together to explore with theatrical resources the different stage languages. Alone with Marilyn is their first work.

The play, in Spanish, tells the story of a supermarket cashier whose husband abandons her. We observe how she goes into social isolation, her anguished loneliness and the path that leads her to make unexpected decisions. She knows only one name, the name of the other Marilyn.

Written by the Spanish playwright Alfonso Zurro, the play premiered in Mexico City in February of 2008, staged by Cromosoma Theatre. Other companies have staged it with great success in a number of international theater festivals. 

Cast and crew: director, Manolo García; woman, Carolina Sánchez; production, Ana Rosa Torres; lights and set, Guillermo Sánchez; wardrobe, Cromosoma Teatro; and various music.

The return of the Comedy of the Universe
By León Mendoza

Theater
The Best of the Moulin Rough
Fri–Sat, Aug 8–9, 8pm
Sun, Aug 10, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
100 pesos

Why the Comedy of the Universe? Because it is for every possible nationality, the skits are delivered in body language, lip synch and pantomime, the rest is in English for the Spanish impaired, but no matter your language, we speak the universal ones—humor, parody, sarcasm, funny situations and unexpected endings.

We guarantee a clean and joyful evening, a little weird and full of craziness, but what the heck, we all deserve some.

This time we take on the great forties, Paris after the war. In a lousy cabaret that resembles the Moulin Rouge, the owner is only after the money and trying to put together a decent show, but most of the artists, musicians and performers work in the best cabarets of Paris,

so she has to put on stage what is available—janitors, maids, cooks, vagabonds and all sort of characters that will do their best to put on a good show.

Everything is uncertain, who, what, when, how? The only certain thing is that you will have a head-spinning-laughing show. Relax, sit back and enjoy this variety/cabaret-style show and thank you for supporting the Comedy of the Universe.

Life with no apparent escape

Theater
El Contrabajo
Sat–Sun, Aug 9–10, 7pm
Café “El Chai”
Salida a Celaya 24

Music is so elevated that no intelligence can be higher, and from it comes a power which dominates everything and from which no one is capable of giving any reason.

—Goethe

A young musician is caught in a monotonous life with no apparent escape. Struggling against his own temperament within the boundaries of a small apartment shared with his only companion, an upright bass, his life is full of frustrations. The only thing that really means something in the middle of all the frustration is his true passion: music.

With an extraordinary journey through the historic evolution of music, famous writer Patrick Süskind (Perfume) gives us this wonderful monologue that not only offers impressive musical information, but teaches us that our life can only be conducted by ourselves.

Sergio Rüed, who performs in San Miguel next Saturday and Sunday, has also performed: Cuento de Navidad (A Christmas Carol), El aviso oportuno, Entrevista con el vampiro (Interview with the Vampire), El cielo se va a caer, and many others.