WHERE AND WHEN:
January 31 to February 16, 2025
Teatro Circulo, 64 East 4th Street New York, NY 10003
Presented by First Maria Ensemble and Cambalache
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
$30 general admission, buy tickets: https://www.firstmaria.com, 917-912-6139
Runs 1:45, no intermission
Critics are invited on or after Sun, 2/2 (either perf). Opens 2/2.
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QmrNUWQ8sdEGdgcTA

NEW YORK, January 5 -- First Maria Ensemble, in collaboration with Cambalache Theatre Company, will present "Bodas de Blood," a new bilingual (English/Spanish) adaptation of "Blood Wedding" (Bodas de Sangre) by Federico García Lorca, from January 31 to February 16 at Teatro Circulo, 64 East 4th Street. The tragedy is newly adapted and directed by Celeste Moratti, Founding Director of First Maria Ensemble. It is performed by an international ensemble with actors from Argentina, Italy, Poland, Colombia, Venezuela, Armenia, the Netherlands and the USA and features live music by two Italian musicians, Francesco Santalucia and Papaceccio.

This is the third production at Teatro Circulo for First Maria Ensemble, which has hitherto presented all-Shakespeare. The troupe is led by Celeste Moratti, an Italian-born actress whose vision is informed by her work at La MaMa and The Living Theater. Before founding First Maria Ensemble, she was best known for both realistic and surrealistic leading roles in the "Pathological Theater" productions of Dario D'Ambrosi.

Cambalache Theatre Company was founded this year by two Argentine actresses, Carmen Ezcurra and Cecilia Wisky, who named their troupe after the famous tango "Cambalache."

Lorca's "Blood Wedding" is a poetic tragedy set in rural Spain, exploring themes of love, passion, honor, and fate."The Bride" is torn between her duty to marry a respectable man ("the Groom") and her lingering love for Leonardo, her former lover, who is now married. On the day of the wedding, Leonardo and the bride flee together. Pursued by the groom and his friends, they take refuge in a forest. At this point, the play takes a deadly expressionistic turn. Allegorical figures of the Moon and death appear and the Groom and Leonardo kill each other. The play ends in grief and mourning as Lorca delves into the inevitable cycles of love, death, and human suffering.

Lorca seems to be exploring the true nature of man. The stark fatalism of "Blood Wedding" serves as a reminder of the cyclical nature of violence and societal pressures, urging contemporary audiences to reflect on how these cycles might be broken. In this adaptation, the mixture of English and Spanish reflects the increasing importance of multilingual narratives in a globalized world. It mirrors how cultures interact, overlap, and influence each other in contemporary society. The international casting underscores the universality of Lorca's themes--passion, fate, and societal constraints--highlighting the ways these issues transcend national boundaries. The bilingual adaptation reflects dualities inherent in the play: life and death, love and duty, freedom and restriction. Audiences are invited to navigate linguistic and emotional divides, fostering a deeper engagement with the text.

Original music is composed by Francesco Santalucia and Papaceccio, who previously scored First Maria Ensemble's productions of "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" at Teatro Circulo. It employs traditional rhythms of Flamenco and Sevillanas (a variation of Flamenco), but distorted with nontraditional elements (which director Celeste Moratti characterizes as "almost metal rock"). This score is performed live by the composers together with the ensemble.

Lorca's language is inherently musical and ritualistic, qualities that align with Moratti's experience in experimental theater. In her adaptation, she kept about half the script in Spanish, including its dialogues and ritual moments, thinking of the way bilingual families talk. The second half of the play, with its phantasmal characters, will feature "batshit crazy design" to illustrate the supernatural magic world that underlies all our actions.

Celeste Moratti (Director, Adaptation) made an auspicious directorial debut in 2016 with "Hamlet," produced by her First Maria Ensemble at Teatro Circulo. JK Clarke (Theater Pizazz) declared, "This season has seen a lot of good small-company productions of Shakespeare plays, and First Maria’s 'Hamlet' is one of the best." Front Row Center (Holli Harms) added, "Here is hoping that Celeste Moratti continues on this trajectory of directorial discoveries." Beside directing it, Moratti played Gertrude in the production. First Maria returned to Teatro Circulo in 2018 with "Macbeth" featuring radical, unusual production design and Moratti playing Lady Macbeth. JK Clarke opined in Theater Pizazz, "It’s been too long between First Maria productions…. their willingness to take chances with Shakespeare is more than welcome. I’m eager to see what they do next." Theatre is Easy (Dan Rubins) wrote, "Moratti’s own 'Unsex me here' speech is probably the most riveting I’ve ever seen." She is Italian-born and her vision is informed by her work at La MaMa and The Living Theater.

Before diversifying into directing, Moratti was noted for both realistic and surrealistic acting roles in the "Pathological Theater" productions of Dario D'Ambrosi. She first achieved widespread acclaim for her starring role in "Days of Antonio" (La MaMa, 2007), a play based on the real incident of an insane boy who had been raised in a henhouse. The New York Times (Jason Zinoman) credited her with "a boldly feral performance of a boy stuck between the worlds of the sane and the mentally ill and the human and the animal." In July 2009, she starred in a realistic thriller by D'Ambrosi, "Night Lights," which was a site-specific performance on the block between Washington Street between Spring Street and Canal Street in SoHo. The play portrayed a precarious liaison between a female university professor and a male ex-convict in a city street. It inaugurated an original genre of live performance called The Drive-In Stage™, in which the audience of 40 viewed the live action from within parked cars, listening with headsets. In 2012, she played the title character in D'Ambrosi's version of Euripides' "Medea" at Wilton's Music Hall in London and at La MaMa, NYC. That production won the Wilton Prize 2012/13 as the best show of the season. She is a member of The Living Theater, which which she performed "Red Noir," directed by Judith Malina in 2009. She is a graduate of the Stella Adler Conservatory, NYC and has also appeared OOB at Medicine Show Theatre, ADK Shakespeare Company and Titan Theatre Company. Her films also include "L'Uomo Gallo" by Dario D'Ambrosi (2010), "My Mother’s Fairy Tales" by Paola Romagnani (Simmia Productions, 2006), "Fight the Panda Syndicate" by Jason J. Dale (Crazy Elk Productions, 2009) and "Traffickers" by Sean F. Roberts, Jr. (Pitbull Shadow Productions, 2014), which she co-produced. It was an official selection of the prestigious Courmayeur Noir Film Festival in December 2015. Last year, her First Maria Ensemble co-produced with Knickerbocker Players a "Shakespeare in the Raw" production of "Henry V" at Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, 10 West 64th Street.

The international ensemble includes: Betty Amelia (Venezuela - Maid, Moon, Ensemble), Eric Alexander (USA/France - Bridegroom's Mother, Ensemble), Stephanie Del Bino (Italy/France - Leonardo's Wife, Second Woodcutter, Ensemble), Carmen Ezcurra (Argentina -- Bride, Ensemble), Hraban Luyat (Holland/France - Bride's Father, Third Woodcutter, Ensemble), Celeste Moratti (Italy/USA -Leonardo's Mother-in-Law, First Woodcutter, Ensemble), Ana Ordoñez (Columbia - Neighbor/Death, Ensemble), Ryan Schaefer (USA - Leonardo, Ensemble), Meg Siepak (USA - Moon, Ensemble), Michal Walentynowycz (Poland - Bridegroom, Ensemble) and Cecilia Wisky (Argentina - Ensemble).

Movement Director and Choreographer is Sandro Isaack (Brazil). Set and costumes are by Raffaella Toni. Lighting design is by Danilo Facco. Assistant Director is Cecilia Wisky.

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Critics are welcome on or after 2/2 (both shows 2/2 are allowed).
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QmrNUWQ8sdEGdgcTA