Live, on Stages
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Antonieta Carpio is Carmelita, the title character in Key City Public Theatre's world premiere play closing this weekend. Photo by Mel Carter [/caption]
Performing Arts Reporting by Diane Urbani
The local theater ecosystem is buzzing with activity. Women, food and justice are involved.
Most pressing: The final performances of “Carmelita: A Vindication for the Unwritten” by Ana Maria Campoy are set for this Friday through Sunday. I saw this world-premiere show on opening night, and had my hair blown back by the blazing Antonieta Carpio.
The actor, whose family is from El Salvador, portrays not only the title character of Carmelita, the Queen of Tamales, but also the flock of other people with whom she crosses paths. Campoy created Carmelita as a woman who was written out of history — her lousy husband stole the credit for her fabulous recipe — but who steps forward and reclaims her magnificence. She is from the Mexican state of Sonora, just like Campoy’s folks. Carmelita makes her way to Walla Walla, where she learns the language, opens a business and brings up her son. There are women who help her — proving Campoy’s point about the need for community when you’re thrust into a nearly impossible situation.
Carmelita, with generous amounts of humor and badassery, puts it all out there at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Key City Playhouse in downtown Port Townsend. Tickets are at https://keycitypublictheatre.org; so are details about Key City’s Playcraft Originals and Sips & Scripts later in May.
Campoy is herself one formidable playwright, director, translator, bilingual adapter of Shakespeare, and founder of WashMasks Mutual Aid. WashMasks began in 2020 as a supplier of face masks for farmworkers amid the pandemic. The organization continues as a provider of sun hats and cooling towels for those who work in the fields, harvesting our food. These things save lives.
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The Saltfire Theatre board includes, clockwise from left, Maude Eisele, Libby Wennstrom, Genevieve Barlow, Michelle Hensel, Scott Bahlmann and Austin Kreig. Photo by Saltfire Theatre [/caption]
Campoy considers the arts sustenance as well: “Creative expression is part of the human experience,” she told me; “cave paintings, temples, pyramids — it’s art that has lasted,” art that keeps our souls alive. Many things can be mechanized, Campoy added, but not theater, not great literature.
Sharing this worldview are the people of Saltfire Theatre, the nonprofit theater company now gathered around a space they call the Cauldron. Genevieve Barlow, who previously worked at Key City, and her merry band of thespians offer a variety of workshops, all on a pay-what-you-wish basis. The Chameleon Theater, 800 W. Park Ave. in Port Townsend, is the place for improv sessions every Monday at 6 p.m.; a gestures workshop this Thursday, Friday and Sunday; play analysis every other Friday and a stage combat class May 17-18. Anyone curious about being part of a forthcoming production is welcome, Barlow said. Cauldron activities are good for people who want to see what this community feels like first.
Next up for Saltfire is a play written by Susan Glaspell in 1916. Ironically titled “Trifles,” it’s about a murder, the lawmen who come looking for evidence, and the two wives who have powerful intuition. “Trifles” cuts straight to the bone — just about 45 minutes in length — and Saltfire will host talkbacks after every performance. Opening night is May 22, with details at https://saltfiretheatre.org/ as they firm up.
“Thank you for witnessing my story,” Carmelita says near the end of her eponymous play. May we keep doing that for one another, inside and outside our local theaters.
