"Words Afire,” the annual UNM Festival of New Plays, has begun in the Center for the Arts. The first production at Rodey is “Pajaros de Mi Sangre” (“Birds of My Blood”) by Don Garcia.
 

The play is a loose, very loose, adaptation of “The Birds” by Greek comic playwright Aristophenes. The main connection to the ancient Greek play is the dead birds and feathers incessantly falling onto the stage. Playwright Garcia seems to be shooting the bird. Garcia’s play is a partially-scripted “happening,” a raucous celebration of the foibles of the inhabitants of Northern New Mexico, the “Norteños folks.” The plot is based on the 1967 unsuccessful raid by Reyes Lopez Tijerina on the courthouse of Tierra Amarilla. Tijerina hoped to return land to the rightful Spanish heirs as established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Within this framework, Garcia creates funny characters and situations in his beloved northern New Mexico. The humor is self deprecating, full of inside jokes that the opening night audience loved.

Tijerina is played with pseudo-seriousness by Eddie Andino. He speaks with an “Antonio Banderas accent” that gets laughs with its exaggerated pronunciations. Tijerina’s disciple is hapless Eppie, comically portrayed by Barney Lopez. Lopez delivers the cadences of the local speech patterns well. Eppie is an orphan searching for his brother whom he discovers in Chopito, whose drunken zeal is played by Andy Brooks. Brothers Jose and Spider are an unlikely combination. Jose (Ismael Antar) is a deputy sheriff and Spider (Miguel Martinez) a jailbird. The two fight over land. Hoopiana represents the local court’s authority, provocatively portrayed by Magdelene Gallegos. Other characters are the drunken deputy Sammy V (Darryl DeLoach) and freethinking Elsie (Tara Brown). Padre Desanti, played by Tom Eply, seeks land for a retreat for wayward priests adjacent to a camp for problem boys. The situation would by funny if it weren’t so true.

Director Scott Vehill’s hand is difficult to find in the seemingly undisciplined performance. Dialogue is often ad libbed, and actors occasionally step out of character. Miguel Martinez, playing Spider, complains that he is actually Puerto Rican, not Mexican. When he has trouble digging up a buried object in the forestage dirt, he excoriates the actor who hid it. At one point cast members directly question the playwright who is in the audience. The set design by Justin Townsend—that includes a real onstage tree—is wonderful. Garcia’s play is enjoyable, especially if you speak “tierra (dirt) language” since the laugh-lines are usually in Spanish.

If You Go WHAT: “Pajaros de Mi Sangre” by Don Garcia

WHEN: Sunday, April 20, at 2 p.m. and Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Rodey Theatre, UNM Center for the Arts

HOW MUCH: $15 general public, $10 faculty, staff, seniors, and $8 students. Call 925-5858 for ticket information

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