Mariela in the Desert

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

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Concord Theatricals

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Cast Size

3w, 3m
Duration

120 minutes (2 hours)
Target Audience

Adult

Accolades

Winner! 2004 National Latino Playwright Award
Winner! National Francesca Primus Prize for Outstanding Emerging Playwright

Details

Summary

Mariela and José were once the golden couple of the Mexican artists’ inner circle. Together they built a family and an artist colony to host friends Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo. But now their daughter has grown up and run away, their friends are too famous to call, and artistic inspiration has been strangled by isolation and lies. Set in the northern Mexican desert in 1950, Mariela in the Desert is a deadly mystery—a layered yet profoundly honest story of what happens to a family when creativity is forced to dry and wither away.

History

Mariela in the Desert made its world premiere at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago in January 2005, in a production directed by Henry Godinez. On 1 April 2010, after significant revision, a new version of the play premiered at The Denver Center, in a production directed by Bruce Sevy.

Cast Attributes

Role(s) for Latine Actor(s)

Keywords

Performing Groups

MARIELA – A wry, beautiful, strong, woman who used to paint. Age: 40-45.
JOSE – Her husband. A famous artist. Age: 50-60.
OLIVA – Jose’s pious older sister. Age: 50-65.
BLANCA – Mariel’s and Jose’s talented and vulnerable daughter. Age: 21 (Also plays Blanca as a child.)
CARLOS – The son who has disappeared. Blanca’s younger brother.
ADAM – Jewish-American Art History Professor teaching in Mexico City. Blanca’s lover. Age: 35-45.

Time Period 1950s
Setting A rustic ranch in the Northern Mexican desert region. 1951.
Features Period Costumes
Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
Cautions
- Alcohol
- Strong Language
- Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Lingers in the mind like the sandy desert air.” – Denver Post

“By turns enlightening, hilarious, and heart wrenching... Mariela in the Desert is a story of strangled creativity and great potential, of familial love and cruelty, and the fine lines that separate them—or don't.” – Portland Mercury

“It’s a play much like the family that lives in it. Think of a fraying blanket with many loose threads. Pull just one, and you fear it might all just fall apart. That it never does—the family or the play—is writer Karen Zacarías’ achievement. Her characters are fully drawn and her dialogue is infused with a color all its own... Mariela in the Desert lingers in the mind like the sandy desert air.” – John Moore, Denver Post

“Mariela in the Desert is a beautiful play, a serious piece about the way art works in the lives of the human beings who create it, the possibilities of transcendence it offers.” – Juliet Whitman, Westword Arts

Videos

Scenes from Mariela in the Desert – Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Karen Zacarías – Inspiration for Mariela in the Desert
Karen Zacarías – Re-premiering Mariela in the Desert
Mariela in the Desert – Casa 0101 Theater

Licensing & Materials

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Scripts

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Ticketing

Authors

Karen Zacarías

Karen Zacarías was recently hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the ten most-produced playwrights in the US. Her award-winning plays include The Copper Children, Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins ...

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Mariela in the Desert