Page 16_____________________ ®,fr Fortiani» (Obstruer
A Rigid Order
continued
from page 9
what is now Mexico City. In that period of
Spanish colonial rule, there existed in New
Spain (now Mexico) a rigid caste system in
which one's status depended entirely on the
quotient of Spanish blood one could claim.
Hie play centers on three young women
who find themselves taking refuge in the
convent: Jesusa, a Mestiza (half-Spanish
and half Amerindian) who has come to care
for an ailing nun; Tomasita, a timid Nahua
Indian who has come to serve in the kitchen;
and Manuela, a noblewoman whose arrival is
occasioned by circumstances that are not
immediately explained. The three are rel
egated to the basement storage room and are
instructed not to open a locked armoire that
sits in the comer.
Oppression and class fuel the story. It's
clear that these young unmarried women
have few options in colonial New Spain;
convents functioned as a refuge for women
who lacked suitable husbands, though
hardly a place of comfort. But the Inquisition
lurks as a threat throughout the play; the
nuns impose a rigid order that is designed to
keep them clear of any conflict with Church
authorities. Further, though the three young
women are all refugees in a sense, social
hierarchies immediately influence how they
assess and treat each other.
But before long, they find the keys to that
locked armoire, and it contains the means to
their spiritual freedom. Inside are piles of
paper and notebooks containing poems,
songs, and plays of Sor Juana, hidden away
because the Church considers them danger
ous.
The young women, chafing against the
rigid social order that confines them, find in
these papers a means of escape into a world
in which they may playfully imagine them
selves differently. They begin reading one of
Saracho ultimately opted to locate this play
around a story that explores Sor Juana's
influence and also the complicated class
differences and gender oppression that char
acterized women's experience in colonial
Mexico.
This history feels important to know about.
Oppression has a way o f reverberating
through later generations, a phenomenon
that is evident in the nuns' varied reactions
to Sor Juana's legacy.
The sisters in the play have a range of
ideas about the importance o f hiding or pro
tecting her words; the Mother Superior for
V The young women, chafing against the rigid social order
that confines them, find in these papers a means o f escape
into a world in which they may playfully imagine themselves
differently. They begin reading one o f the plays, aptly named
House o f Desires, assigning to themselves roles that upset the
class order to which the outside world consigns them.
1
the plays, aptly named House of Desires,
assigning to themselves roles that upset the
class order to which the outside world con
signs them. Little do they realize that what
seems harmless and joyous to them is exactly
what seems dangerous to Church authori
ties who define what is possible in their
world.
The play, commissioned by the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival and enjoying its world
premiere run, is the work of Tanya Saracho,
a Mexican playwright whose work explores
a rich array of Latina voices.
Originally asked to adapt House of De
sires for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
The Pacific Northwest
Regional Council of
Carpenters is hosting a free
Career Fair where you can find
out all you need to know about
being a Union Carpenter. You
will have an opportunity to visit
with many industry profession
als who will be on hand to answer questions about Carpen
try, Apprenticeship, and the Construction Industry.
CARPENTRY CRAFTS INCLUDE: Wood Framers, Concrete
Forms Work, Exterior/Interior Systems Specialists, Metal
Stud Framers, Piledrivers, Scaffold Erectors, Millwrights,
Shipwrights, Marine Carpenters, Finish Carpenters, Floor
Layers, Trade Show Workers, and much more.
example, is fiercely determined to keep the
focus of the Inquisition away from the con
vent. Though harsh, her approach makes
some sense in light of the dangers the con
vent faced when Sor Juana came under scru
tiny.
After living a privileged and productive
life of letters inside the Convent of San
Jeronimo for many years, Sor Juana sud
denly became a target for political reasons
and was pressured to renounce her previous
writings and sell her extensive library, which
was one of the largest in the New World.
Other sisters in the play more obviously
carry grief over the loss of freedom of thought
September 4.2013
embodied by Sor Juana, a brilliant thinker
and writer at a time when women's education
was considered dangerous and unneces
sary.
The reverberation of these struggles for
the women in the play «along with the insidi
ous mechanics of the racial oppression de-
picted-suggest how this history continues
to ripple into our current experience.
This beautiful play also wrestles soulfully
with the human desire for expression and the
struggle to find one's voice when expression
itself is considered dangerous and threaten
ing to those in power.
One of the sisters especially, Sor Isabel,
chafes at the confines into which the sisters
have retreated in the wake of the controversy
surrounding Sor Juana. Her agony over the
limits of expression allowed to her is treated
as a kind o f illness, a perversion commonly
experienced by those who are awake to the
losses associated with enforced silence.
For me, though, the heart of the play is
Tomasita, the Indian woman who has learned
to keep silent and watchful. Beneath her
observant exterior lurks hard-won wisdom
about her circumstances, and deep longings
that she scarcely dares to acknowledge.
If you can make it to Ashland this fall,
don't miss the opportunity to sink deeply in
this rich history. You may find, as I did,
inspiration and consolation for your current
experience.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on the Oregon
Court o f Appeals and the first woman of
color to serve in that capacity. She also
serves on the board o f directors for the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Her movie
review column Opinionated Judge appears
regularly in The Portland Observer.
CARPENTER CAREER FAIR
Saturday, September 21,2 0 1 3
10 AM- 3 PM
Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute
4222 NE 158th Ave, Portland, OR 97230
DOOR PRIZES • FOOD • ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN
For more information contact- Michael Burch 503.261.1862 or visit
www.nwcarpenters.org
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