Attendees at the Young Theatre were guided through 1900s Chile as Cal State Fullerton’s production of “The House of the Spirits” evoked both tears and laughter last Thursday.
Based on the book by Isabel Allende, Caridad Svich’s stage adaptation is a poetic retelling centered around four generations of women in the Trueba family, as they endure and document family trauma mixed with political turmoil. The story is set in an unnamed Latin country inspired by Chile during the timeframe of 1920s to 1970s.
The play, which contains live subtitled translation for the Spanish spoken throughout and live guitar, is told in a series of flashbacks led by main character Alba. She watches the history of her family unfold by recounting a series of journals left behind by her grandmother Clara.
Third-year directing graduate student and director Tyler Garcia was drawn to the play because of a personal connection to the playwright.
“I was actually able to get into contact with Caridad and she originally wrote ‘The House of the Spirits’ in Spanish,” Garcia said. “When I spoke with her, I asked if I could do a bilingual version of it. I took Caridad’s two scripts and, with her consent, I combined them into a sort of bilingual piece.”
The play features monologues entirely in Spanish, often used to transition throughout the scenes, while also dealing with dark topics such as torture, sexual assault and political violence. The show is filled with incredibly emotional performances accompanied by stunt work that can leave one genuinely concerned with the wellbeing of the cast.
Lead actress Kiana Owens, a third-year acting major playing Alba, delivers a standout performance not only through her acting, but through her dedication to her stunt work, which includes her character physically experiencing and witnessing abuse. She remained on stage for all but five minutes of the play.
“It was a tough process and it was so exhausting. My heart beats so hard for every single person in the cast,” Owens said. “It was hard in that sense, because I was like, ‘It’s tough watching these things happen to you guys.’”
For some in the cast, the history of oppression in South America was already well known.
“When it comes to the dictatorship, my family experienced the Argentine dictatorship,” said Francesca Verdino, a third-year acting major who delivered a beautiful performance as Clara. “My mom was also a little kid when everything was going down. She’s like, ‘I remember the curfews and having to be home by 9 p.m. and I remember people disappearing.’”
For Ethan Montes, a fourth-year acting major who plays Esteban Trueba, the patriarchal and emotional throughline of the play was the highlight of the night. As the actor who occupies the second-most scene time, he said he was initially uneasy about tackling the more violent aspects of his character, especially in a live setting. However, working with the production’s intimacy coordinator helped ease his transition into the character.
As the lights of the Young Theatre came up, the cast was met with a standing ovation. The audience was impressed by the production.
“I thought it was truly awesome how they spoke both English and Spanish, and how the actors really tapped into that role,” said Austin Morillas, a fourth-year communications major. “I felt like that was awesome how they incorporated that into the show, and they executed it very well.”
The audience’s reactions are what director Garcia had hoped for leading up to opening night.
“I think that something that I love the audience to go out of the theater with is a sense of hope,” Garcia said. “I hope that the audience does go through the story experiencing it and leaves the theater with that sense of hope and with a desire to not let history repeat itself, and acknowledging that events like these do happen, did happen, but (with) a desire to not let them happen again.”
“The House of the Spirits” runs until Saturday, Nov. 15.