The lights dimmed in the Arthur Miller Theatre, the audience hushed and I quietly grabbed for the bag of Twizzlers hidden in my purse. Just as I had ripped open the bag, the collage of light bulbs hovering above center stage began to flicker. I looked up to the top window of the rusty building set, only to see an angel. But this wasn’t the angel that I’d read about in my in my illustrated children’s Bible. This was a punk angel. Her hair was naturally curly and voluminous. Her nose ring glimmered under the spotlight as the sleeve of tattoos covering her arm was illuminated. She was dressed in a leather vest, looking absolutely ruffian. She watched silently as a young, Puerto Rican, woman named Marisol, tucked a knife under her pillow in her shady, Bronx apartment. While the angel’s appearance was a shock, that wasn’t the only surprising part of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s production of Marisol by José Rivera.
I had the opportunity to view the final performance of Marisol on Sunday, April 13th at 2pm. This was the second weekend that the show had run, so the audience was small, but that didn’t stop the performers from giving every scene their all.
The show begins on a subway commute home from a long day at work. Marisol is exhausted, reading a newspaper, when a dirty man with a golf club approaches her. He mumbles about angels and crazily presents an “end of times” scheme. As Marisol is protected by her guardian angel, she is quickly snapped back into her small apartment in the Bronx. The dangers of her street arise as the sun sets over New York. Yelling, slamming doors, and gun threats echoed throughout the theatre as Marisol’s is banged on by a senseless woman with a gun. Marisol drops to her knees and prays, opening the door to find a pile of salt…
Marisol’s guardian angel, played magnificently by Melissa Golliday, reveals to Marisol that God is old and dying, too senile to take care of His creation. The guardian admits that she is leading the angel revolt against God, ready to uproot God’s rule and rejuvenate the failing earth. The angel leaves Marisol with an unsettling lack of protection and a choice. Will Marisol stand with God or fight with the angels?
Throughout the play we see how the earth disintegrates through lack of food (only salt), gender roles begin drastically reversed (pregnant men), and extreme violent tendencies, including setting others on fire. Marisol fights and struggles to understand where she is, where she belongs, and whose side she is on. I don’t want to give away all of the details of this play, because it is so fantastic, but in end, Marisol joins the angels in a victorious battle against God. Billions of angels lost their lives in this celestial war, as did the millions of earthly warriors, but the earth returns in triumphant light.
While I’ve grown up being a musical type of girl, this play might have me converted! This play was perfectly chilling; I felt my shoulders shake as Marisol’s guardian dropped her wings into Marisol’s hand and turned for the audience to see bloodied wing-bones emerging from her bulletproof vest. I could barely scribble notes as Marisol struggled with her identity and associations with the other characters. This play was absolutely enthralling. Everything, from the realistic set with garbage rumbling about the stage to the realistic costumes and props, was gripping.
I would highly recommend seeing Marisol if you ever have the chance! It was a strangely attractive play and I guarantee you would enjoy it! Great job to the cast and crew, especially the director- Linda Goodrich.
