Last Monday, May 21st, I had the great opportunity to attend a rehearsal of the play Los Nietos by the theater group La Bicicleta. A play that will be presented from May 24th until May 28th in the “Teatrito” of the University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Campus.
If you aren’t already familiar with La Bicicleta, it’s a theater company formed by students and ex-students from the Drama Department of the University. Their contemporary ways of playmaking involve a series of acting exercises and improv to, as a group, write their plays’ plot as well as creating their own characters. This is known as acting dramaturgy.
The play Los Nieto is a very emotional play that portrays a universal topic of family, the themes of reencounters, and the loss of a loved one. The actors do a good job of playing both with silence and loud noise. At the beginning of the play and throughout it, one can notice the importance of body language. I got the chance to sit with one of the actors Pó Rodil, who plays the character Julio in the play and converse with them after the rehearsal.
HCUPR: What is the play about?
Pó: Synopsys: the play is about a grandmother who dies and the reunion of her grandchildren, who many of them haven’t seen each other in years, and now they get to see each other as adults and the events that follow this. The events such as the fights, the grudges, the struggles of the youngest kids who didn’t get to know much of their grandmother and all of those family themes.
HCUPR: What is the message that the play tries to bring across?
Pó: The message, per se is basically is to show how families have difficult situations and how every family has them. And everyone can relate to this scenario although not everyone has been through this exact situation. One can relate to the subjects of those family members who live out [of the island] and have a more distant relationship with family members than those who stay, that sort of thing.
HCUPR: Would you say that this play is a portrayal of Puerto Rican culture?
Pó: Yes, definitely.
HCUPR: How has been your process of preparation for this performance?
Pó: It’s been very draining—laughs. It’s a play that requires a lot of emotional focus and requires for you to listen to a scene. One must have to be very prepared to have the liberty to do [to act] while someone else is doing [acting] without overpowering what they are doing and them not overpowering you.
Throughout the play, one can feel the emotional depth the play has and how the actors are connected with their character’s emotions and intentions. It has taken them since January to prepare the play and develop it.
When I first arrived at el Teatrito, I found most of the actors in a sort-of trance as they got into their roles that they were going to display on scene. It was very stunning to me and as soon as I felt the air around me had changed, there was a heaviness to it. And one can say this is indeed a heavy play, and it makes you reflect on family situations that you might have also experienced.
It was refreshing to see this kind of play brought up on stage. It was most definitely something I would like to, and probably will, repeat. I’d like to thank Gabriela Aponte for inviting me to interview the group and have the opportunity to sneak into the world of theater.
Now I would like to invite you to attend the play Los Nieto and experience it yourself.
You will not regret it.
Image source: La Bicicleta