The Theater Department’s new show, dealing with rape, death, and violence, has sparked controversy on and off stage.
By Tessa Solomon | [email protected]

Iphigenia stands alone, illuminated by harsh light. Pink crosses flank factory walls, symbols of the “femicide” rampant in her hometown of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

She is the hero of Caridad Svich’s Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That was Once her Heart (a rave fable), an adaption of Euripides’ ancient Greek play opening in the UI Theater Building tonight.

Since 1993, more than 370 women have been kidnapped, raped, and murdered in the border town of Juárez. Primarily young factory workers, most bodies are never found, their memories swept away like desert dust while local police investigations stagnate.

The play has strict audience regulation; patrons under 17 require parental accompaniment. The provocative content has even prompted controversy off the stage. Director Mario El Caponi Mendoza says the university is “censoring” his work over a specific aspect of the pre-show.

“It was a video of two adult men [sex workers who will remain unnamed] making consensual love,” Mendoza said. “We were to censor what privileged heterosexual men define as ‘all the gory details.’ There is nothing wrong with illustrating this imagery. Why is this country more complacent with viewing violence over two consensual males making love?”

The video was intended to enhance the rave atmosphere of the setting. Censoring it, Mendoza said, is “hypocrisy,” as scholars study the sex industry, yet sex workers are shamed through the act of censorship. He is being “banned from illustrating truth on university grounds,” he said.

“In the end, the university can do whatever it wants,” Mendoza said. “But then the university needs to stop using words it doesn’t understand, like ‘diversity.’ Because I’m convinced the university doesn’t know what that word means.”

The theater had not shied from Mendoza’s visceral vision beforehand, approving sexual activity, sexual violence, full nudity, simulated drug use, sexual imagery, adult language, and aggressive strobe effects. The exclusion of the film is an issue of process, not censorship, said Alan MacVey, head of the Theater Department.

“This is a production that has a lot of risky elements,” MacVey said. “For the most part, the elements were discussed and decisions made, but at the last minute, the director decided to include something highly controversial that was not discussed with anybody. We have to be sensitive to the public and actors.”

Despite the conflict, Iphigenia will still take the stage for two weekends.

“The show is all about Iphigenia’s death, that is learned very early on by the audience,” said sophomore Rob Petrie, who plays General Adolfo. “But the question is why she has to die and the circumstances of her death. But more than that, it’s about the circumstances of all those women’s deaths.”

As the daughter of powerful General Adolfo, Iphigenia holds nearly celebrity status. Only as she descends into Juarez’s netherworld does she realize what fate her countrywomen face.

“It is being used as a fable to talk about how we view deaths of women as something beautiful, the idea of the Black Dahlia,” said graduate scenic designer Alex Casillas. “This show uses the story of the sacrificial lamb as a way to address what’s wrong with that idea.”

Mendoza’s production scraps any illusion of beauty.

“It was an atmosphere of omnipresent fear,” Petrie said. “We had to tap into that constantly felt violence. It was very emotional; most of the cast has cried. I’m not much of crier, but I have had to hold back tears several times.”

Helping the actors handle the emotional weight of this play, while also bonding with it, was a challenge. Mendoza worked closely with the large cast of more than 20, encouraging supportive bonds. The Brechtian style was also helpful, because it stresses a distance between actor and character.

“We are not on stage trying to convince the audience we are these people,” said senior Maritza Pineda (Iphigenia). “We’re more on stage trying to convince that this is what we’re taking away from it as people.”

As soldiers menace and workers succumb to gang violence, that distance becomes a reprieve for the actors.

“[Mendoza] has told us, ‘I don’t want you to feel like this is actually happening to you. I want you to see it happen and become commentary on it,’ ” Pineda said. “But in a show like this, it’s best to not feel like you have to take this on, even in pretend.”

The role of Iphigenia shoulders a special weight. To disperse the load, Mendoza triple-cast the character. Pineda will alternate the role with Caitlin Rose Edwards and Sarah Gilbert.

The audience members are not allotted the same support system.

“We’re employing odd, strange shapes and geometrical angles to antagonize the audience and the actors,” Casillas said. “No one is supposed to feel comfortable or safe in this environment.”

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For the audience, the femicide of Juárez may feel worlds away. But Mendoza aimed to confront “the visual reality — and that reality stems from not all of us are privileged.”

While he may not have been able to realize his complete vision, the audience will still be immersed in the gritty factory, or maquiladora, which also functions as a peep show and rave center. Hanging umbrellas will feature projections.

“In the world we’ve created, history is meeting contemporary and the projections serve as a way to bring the pieces together,” Casillas said.

The audience will travel in those projections through memories and fantastical dream sequences, glimpses into characters’ minds. They are chances for the audience to better understand and question the circumstances that foster an acceptance of murder and sacrifice.

“This play focuses very keenly on the circular nature of the Iphigenia tale,” Casillas said. “Every woman is Iphigenia, expecting to sacrifice herself one way or another.”

THEATER
Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That was Once her Heart (a rave fable)
When: 8 p.m. today-Saturday, 2 p.m. March 6
Where: Theater Building Thayer Theater
Admission: $5-$18