![]() In order to bridge the divide between theater and drag, which are “cousins” but require a little translation according to shorb, pre-show performances have been given by local drag performers in the gallery at Dougherty Arts Center throughout the run which ended June 2. Gender and genre are both fluid here, though, and the company - with the help of Aaron Curry’s skillful lighting design - has made flexible the play’s themes and even the idea of an “opera” by employing telenovela tropes to hilarious effect. Here’s a hint: Bullfighting might be inhumane, but a lap dance works just as well. When all at once the ice machine breaks and a crooked duo of ICE officers show up, Carmen must use her wiles to save the ones she loves. Martinez) plays both barkeep and parent in a pseudo-family of regulars - a hipster couple, a busser, a bruja – who keep a sidehustle going as troupe of drag performers. Her capable voice easily sails through the few musical numbers, but it is her energy that propels the play forward even when it lags. ![]() Our Carmen is a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient finishing her degree in psychology at El Paso Community College while tending bar in a pair of American flag denim shorts.Ĭassandra Reveles breathes welcome humor and heart into the title role’s trademark magnetism and cunning. If exoticism fuels the popularity of Bizet’s original, Generic Ensemble Company’s “ Carmen” reinvents and reclaims difference for the days of #dreamers, #borderwall and #metoo.ĭirected by kt shorb and written by the all-Latinx cast, this riff on the classic is set amid queer nightlife in El Paso. Think passionate gypsies, hot-blooded Spaniards, “Habanera” and what’s simply become known as “The Toreador Song.” ![]() ![]() “ Carmen ,” the opera from which Generic Ensemble Company has adapted this play, maintains enormous cultural capital nearly a century and a half after its Paris premiere.
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