Illustrated Daily; 3106; In the Company of José Rodríguez

€907. I hope that when I preach, people will hear me, and they will miss a word, and that I will be able to preach the Word of God with the gifts that God gave me as an act. Now here's a place with a spotty history along Albuquerque's Busy Central Avenue. At one time, it was a small art movie house.

Later, briefly, it was an adult X-rated theater. Today, however, it is legit. I'm tired of hanging by the heels. La Compagnia de Teatro de Albuquerque, a theater, according to one critic, that simultaneously gives Hispanics a positive self-image, and that transcends all racial and political boundaries. La Compagnia was invented in 1977, and by all accounts, it has been a huge success, both artistic and as these things go financially. No theater company thrives on the efforts of one individual alone.

That is what we call a definition. I know who that is called. This is my house, I can never want to... I hate you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I have sold you from all agents from our people, he deserves it, he always cheats you, never greets you, ask you to his barbecue. You never got protection, civil order, free election, and beside his bunch of ponies, never like you any. Oh, no, it's true, we come, Gertgen, you'll see how great a republic can be. You'll agree to give up, receive. They're all my house, they are my life.

To separate them from me is to cut my heart from my breath. I'm sorry, I tell you my man is firm on this matter, they will leave if you're in London for a while. No, I come on there, I beg you. But La Compagnia, at the very least, owes a lot to Jose Rodriguez. It's founding father and intel recently artistic director, principal producer, and to the extent those things exist in Repertory Theatre, it's biggest star. Born in Puerto Rico, Rodriguez studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and before coming to New Mexico, he performed with the Spanish Repertory Company of New York City, all of which may help explain the success of La Compagnia. But La Compagnia now must survive without the skills of Jose Rodriguez. For the present at least, he is putting the theatre behind him, and he is entering upon instead a religious life. What's the seating capacity here at the theatre?

It's 99 seats, and it's always filled. Most of the time, sometimes we might have five or six seats, seventy, but most of the time it's filled. Every director's dream, a house full. I think so, not only here, but also the chemo. Every time we perform at the chemo, we just finished doing Don Quixote at the chemo, and we had four performances at our full house. It was very interesting. What's performing here at your own theatre, like, compared to performing at the chemo? I don't know. Here's more intimate. I find this space extremely intimate. As an actor, it's a thrilling experience to have the audience by the top of you. I like this space here. I love the chemo, because it was our first home, actually. We have done a lot of our work at the chemo, especially our Holy Day extra organises and Christmas and Easter. And it has a special feeling in the place. Well, it is an extravaganza, the chemo.

We did a whole program on the chemo one time, and it's exactly what should be described as an extravaganza. But it's a lovely theatre to play. Oh, it's a wonderful place. It's frequently described as a community-based theatre. What is, what does that mean? I'm trying to mention a theatre that isn't a community-based theatre. I guess some community or another. I guess what people mean by that is that we grew from the community. For example, when we started doing our company, there were no pool of bilingual actors really in the area. You found actors that I spoke English, but not bilingual actors. And we started creating a group like that. And as it grew for some particular reason, it like families came together. Clans came together. If you got one son in a family, you would get the entire family, mother and father, getting involved. People from very different educational, as well as social structures.

For some reason, we were able to mingle and work together. In the place, for example, where many Hispanic organizations will say, we are Hispanic here and you're this, you're that. It didn't happen with us. And as a consequence of that, we have rounded up with black company, which in Spanish means the company. But it has the feeling of, you know, Christ had a company of 12. Unfortunately, if you will, a group of people working in harmony together. We have Republicans, we have Democrats, we have leftists, we have rightists, we have people that believe Christians, people that don't believe in God or what have you. A very beautiful group of people working together because theater, and the particular kind of theater that we're doing, is very important for them. The whole idea of a bilingual theatrical company here in New Mexico. Why did it take someone from Puerto Rico to discover those resources

and make them all gel into this family you've just described? Well, I think in terms of, I'm an actor. You know, that was my profession. And when I came here, obviously there were no, I wouldn't even say Chicano, but I would say New Mexican actors or trained, perhaps with the training that I had. I was lucky enough to go to a scholarship to go to the Royal Academy with the Marie Carson London. So I don't think that there were a lot of people in the area that had been, had that kind of education in theater. And if they did, they were working in New York or LA. And I happened to pass by. Like you were, as we were speaking before, you said, I was seduced by the land, by the plays, by the people. And coming with those skills, I think it was the being in the right place at the right time. I don't think there was anything else like that. And for me, that I was totally bilingual and totally bicultural. I had started in the States.

I grew up in Puerto Rico until I was 16. I had gone to American colleges. And yet I, you know, I was very stingy. You were at the Fordham, didn't you? Yes, I did. I graduated from Fordham. I did me a rupture. I just donned on me. Yes, gestures. Good education. The good gesture was giving you good education. Well, your successor is one of your former students from Puerto Rico, as I understand it. Yes, he is. His name is Oscar Hiner. When I was, I was studying high school at once in San Juan. He was one of my students. And he was especially my speech team. I had a speech team that was the champions of the island. And he was very smart. And he also wanted to be in Dramasics. But I kept putting him in origin. So he would write his own compositions. And he hated that. And then he went, when I left, I introduced him to some theatre people in the island. And then he started getting very interested about it. And he's been his life ever since. He studied at the Yale Drama School in London. And he founded his own theatre company in Puerto Rico, a repertoire theatre company.

And he's interesting too, because he had passed through New Mexico also twice before. Once while I was here, and we didn't know, we didn't know that we were both in the same place. And the other one, he spent actually 15 days here in Albuquerque. So he too had been seduced by the land, as you've heard it, and by the people. It's a seductive land, speaking of which. I suppose, if there has been a piece of theatre, come to New Mexico, that is born out of the soil of New Mexico, which has enjoyed more popularity than your Nuevo Mexico. See, I'm unfamiliar with it all together. You wrote it, you directed it, you produced it, you acted in it from time to time. I wasn't somewhere else. In the creation of Nuevo Mexico City, how much of it was pain, how much of it was pleasure? I don't know if we even had time to think about either of them.

It was a collaborative effort between myself and an ex-classmate of mine from the Royal Academy, Nuevo Struppshire, who is the resident composer and actor with a classic stage theatre in New York. It was a wonderful opportunity for me, because it was a collaborative effort between Nuevo, between David Navarro Velasquez, the designer, between David Barrella, the musical director, who actually taught the kids to sing, because they had never sung before. It was a collaborative thing, and I had done a lot of research. I've been doing the research for about two years, and I said, someday, when the time is right, we're going to do it. And when it finally happened, thanks to a grant from the New Mexico Arts Division, that we were able to bring this gentleman from New York to work on the score. And in the music, I remember he came here one day, and we were in the evening, he said, where is the script?

And I said, what script? There was no script. And we sat all night until four o'clock in the morning. I told him the history of New Mexico. I said, this is the history of New Mexico in Novo. And we sat down, we made our outline of the topics that we wanted to discuss, to deal with, and the next day we just started writing. You know, I would write, and I would pass the thing to him, and he'd start writing the new thing in the piano. What did you do that? What were you physically in downtown Forester? Yeah, in the house, and he actually wrote the music in his old 150-year-old grand piano. That was out of tune. Oh, yeah. That's wonderful. The success of Novo Mexico City here in New Mexico has just been enormous. Are there any plans at some time in the future to take it elsewhere? I think so. I think that the Novo Mexico City is one of those pieces that, for no other reason, that it tells the history of the state.

I'm not just of any particular people, but the history of all of the people in New Mexico. And we have found that every time, you know, after a year and some months, he was running every time we showed it, people cost to come and see it. For a second and third time. Oh, yeah, certainly. In fact, I know the one that I've seen in 14 times. That's what you call a junkie. There we go. A groupie. A groupie. He can quote you the lies on the whole thing. He's sort of like the Rocky Horror picture show where people go and actually participate in the film. Yes, certainly. All right. So, Novo Mexico sees an enormous popular success, but you also do the classics, Lorca, Lopida Vague, and the like. If you just did a steady diet of the classics, will a company succeed or do you need those enormously popular pieces like Nuevo Mexico's seed? Well, you know, I don't know. I think that theater should speak to the people.

And I would like to have, you know, I know Scott has the same idea. I want a theater group with a style that is eclectic enough and who are trained so well in all aspects of theater that they can do check-off, that they can do Tennessee Williams, that they can do Shakespeare, that we can do Lopida. Is that what you're talking about? Certainly. Certainly. But I mean, you know, do check-off, for example, in Spanish. Oh, even do check-off in English. We have the ability as a bilingual company, truly bilingual, to be able to do something totally in Spanish or something totally in English, or do the same play in English and Spanish, or mix them up. Now, we have that because of the bilinguality of most of our people. You know, it's quite unique. You keep preferring to Oscar. He was, I think I should explain at the beginning of the program, the fellow who was directing the troupe as they were rehearsing a piece. We did a piece on the illustrated daily, not long ago,

which a lot of viewers saw, and in which I took a great deal of satisfaction because simply it was delightful doing. And in which a scene from New Wave of Mexico appeared, the famous confrontation between Bishop Lamy and Padre Martin. It was a fictional piece. It added a measure, I believe, to our show. And I'm grateful to you for permitting us to include it in it. And I wanted at the time that we were working with that. Since this was a fictional encounter, long after their famous controversy and conflict and confrontation, what was the inspiration for those lines that you put in their mouths? I believe as a man and as a Christian, and I hope that it shows in my work, that the hardest thing there is in life is for Christ Prayer, you know, during the last supper when he says that there may all be one.

He prayed that whole, you know, John, that whole prayer in the last supper is that they may all be one. I think it is one of the hardest things that there are for people to be one, for people to work in harmony, for people to be forgiven, for people to be kind with each other. And I became aware, you know, living in New Mexico and loving New Mexico, I have become aware of the fact that there is a lot of tensions, cultural as well, as racial, and I am this and you are that, you know, that those things exist. It exists not only here, it's the nature of the world. I am Jewish and you are Palestinian, and I am an Arab and you are Cuban and I am Puerto Rican. That it seems that this is a prevalent thing, and it happens also in history. You know, some people, because even Hispanic people, because of Bishop Ramé's attitude towards Padre Martinez,

have dismissed the man, you know, without realizing that they are dismissing one of the glories of, you know, the New Mexican people. So it's, I wanted through that piece, especially through that scene between them, to tell people that, you know, so what if he was excommunicated? Do Anderson really know how the mercy of God works? And the life of the man was such that I find it very hard to believe that a man could leave a life of doing good to his people, and that when he dies, you know, the good Lord would send him to hell, or whatever that may be, because someone excommunicated him. Now we don't know those things. We have no idea about those things, and for him to be exonerated now by the church, doesn't mean that they would pull him out of, but that's the other part of it. You weren't you telling me a little while ago before we started producing this program that a member of the law company, Troop, is doing a play on Padre Martinez?

In fact, we have two. There is the poet E.A. Madness, who has recently appeased for us before the Lola's last dance. I've been after him for a long time to write something I thought about him. And he had this marvelous idea of a play called Death Comes to Wheelic Arthur, in which, in which, you know, the spirit of Wheelic Arthur and Padre Martinez and Bishop Lamea meet somewhere, and they have this confrontation or this, you know, this cosmic confrontation or whatever. It's a very interesting thing. He's been working for a while. He's not, I don't think, near completion, but Oskar, our new artistic director, who's a very good player, play writer and a laughter, has also become fascinated by the figure of Padre Martinez. And I was very pleased because he sort of undertook something that I wanted very much to do. And he says, can I do it?

And I said, I love you to do it, because I won't be able to. But he undertook to do the life of Padre Martinez. This coming year, actually, will be part of our season. Oh, well, we'll keep our hands on him. Tell me about, I certainly Death Comes for Lola. Lola's last dance. Lola's last dance was, we asked Tony Mare's was a poet to be a part of Trilogy. Tony Mare's Rudian Ayer, Rufan Ayer, author of Bless Me Ultima and other, you know, very well-known novels. And also Dennis Chavez was a playwright from Santa Fe. And Tony got together to write what we call the New Mexican Trilogy. And we took through the themes of fantasy, fantasy, legend, history. And they developed the plays within those themes. And Lola's last dance was actually Tony's contribution, which was the story of this old town prostitute here in Albuquerque. By that, you mean an old town, old town prostitute?

Yes, right. An old town, you're right, old prostitute, yes. And she's dying, and she has these dolls that are given to her by having given to her by her lovers. And it's her last dance. She's dying from consumption or heart, I don't know. And overworked. Yes. Yes. And as she's dying, these figures come to remind her of her life, rather popular and very nice piece. I like the idea. Were you at the beginning prepared for the success which has come to La Compaña? In your wildest dreams? No. I always say that I'm glad that I don't know what the things that I get into because how I know at the beginning, you know, I wouldn't get into them. Like saying, we're going to do Don Quixote. We're going to do the history of New Mexico with music. We don't really know.

You know you wouldn't do it. But one of the things that, from the time that I started working with the people, and Oscar has had the same feeling when he came here, he says, I do people putting me on because he's used to all the kinds of theatre lives to which people are just going at each other. And I have the incredible gift of working with very dedicated people that truly wanted one of the first things that Oscar told me to be here for a week, which is, I can believe the support of the community, the house for the group, the volunteers, they really wanted it. And that is precious, you know, to have a community that wants something to exist. And it has been that way from the beginning. So that I thought to answer your question, not that I anticipated the success, but that it was a great pressure working it out. And I knew all along that if we keep working with the seriousness of purpose that we were working, you know, and with the cohesiveness and harmony, good vibes, if you will, that we have had,

that there could be no other way for us but to be successful, you know, to be, to project ourselves to the community as a mirror of our society, to project ourselves to the community as something of value in the community. So a great deal of success of the company belongs to the people. Oh, yes. Oh, it belongs. There's no such thing as a real star in this business. I don't think so. You know, some people tell me inventions for some reason that we feel compelled to create, aren't they? I think so. You know, that's why I've been so happy now because I have been away from the premises for a while. I've been packing and getting ready to leave. I haven't liked the other day. I came in and they were starting to rehearse with Chavez, which I wrote, which I was, I played with Chavez originally and so forth. I mean, I came in and I looked from the outside and everything was working. What does that feel like? It felt very funny in the sense that I said to myself, I have always been there and he was like, I was now outside looking in,

but no, I said to myself, no, I'm part of that. And it's so neat that it can work without me, that it has a life of its own, that it really has a life of its own and it can go on and flourish. And I think that was my role. That you don't hurt a little bit to know that it can go on without Jose Rodriguez. No, quite to country. I mean, what hurts is that these lovely people have been part of me for so long. They're like family. You know, I have seen Margarita practically every day of my life. Since I've been here, who by the way, you know, she's a woman. Everybody thinks that I contribute a lot to La Compagnia and that is probably so, but Margarita is a dream maker. I came here with dreams and my dreams happened to coincide with her, for her people and for herself. But the real builder of La Compagnia was Margarita. She was the one who ran around. You know, I would say, are you going to do it this way?

And she'd run around and make it possible. You know, the soul, the donkey pulling the whole thing behind it was her. An incredible devotion, an incredible dedication to the gone Margarita. And Margarita, she does not look like a donkey. Of course not. Doesn't tell me something. Religions played an important role in the theater of Jose Rodriguez. Well, theater play, a role, now that it's going the other direction. I should hope so. You know, somebody asked me, why are you becoming a priest? And they said, because I'm an actor. And because I'm an actor, I look around and the best plays around, and not Lea, or Hamlet, or say, he's Moonbaugh or any of that, are the sacraments. Sometimes they're not performed very well. But they're more often than not performed very badly. But you should make a marvelous. But they are.

But no, I mean, is that they are marvellous. They're marvellous plays celebrating rights of passage. And that if people really get in touch with them, there is a magic and a power in them to heal, I believe. And so I think that I think I hope that, I mean, if nothing else, that when I preach, people will hear me, and they will miss a word. And that I will be able to preach the Word of God with the gifts that God gave me as an actor. Tell me about Haysus Chavez. Haysus Chavez is a collective piece that we did several years ago. I've always was fascinated with the life of Christ, and I wanted to do that. And when I came to New Mexico, I became aware that of the traditions that they have in the Southwest, of presenting the passion of Christ, as they have of presenting those pastures during Christmas, during Easter time. And so I wanted to do La Pación, the Passion of Jesus. But in the process of doing it, it changed. And I started asking the people that were involved in La Compagnie.

I said, if Christ would come today, what do you think he would come ask? And we sort of came up with the idea that he would probably come out in a penitentiary as a pinto, or he would probably be a mojado, you know, a mix of illegal aliens that are across the frontier. And that are the hands of justice. So we started dealing with that. And what we came up with was the story of this Mexican peasant, who is assigned the role of Christ during Holy Week. And in learning the role of Christ, he becomes aware of a lot of injustices. So he becomes like a Christ figure. And in the meantime, I mean, everything that is almost parallel in the life of Christ happens to Jesus Chavez, but in a modern context, with television cameras running after him keeping track of his revolutionary leaders, supposedly. But after he's killed, three of his disciples crossed the frontier. That's actually the way the play starts.

They cross the frontier into the U.S. and they get caught by the immigration officers, and they get put into a penitentiary. Did you do me a favor? I'm having to say goodnight to our viewers this evening. But after I do that, would you read something for us from Hays and Chavez? Thanks so much for joining us. And thanks to Jose Rodriguez, of course, as well. See you later. I'm Hell Road. Good night. In the town of Madera. From the state of Chihuahua. It's an interesting case. And he took all his father. And a man without a father. His love has been given to God. That his chaves were called. The singing is not brave. The one who forgot the people. To help him.