'Now everyone can have a pretend meltdown about it.'Д®rika's life has been flipped upside down. 'No, I did not compare myself to Christ, someone else did and I reposted it,' she tweeted. рџ¤·рџЏјвЂЌв™ЂпёЏ Now everyone can have a pretend meltdown about it. ItвЂ™s a glimpse of how technology can be used when in-person performances are permitted once again.No, I did not compare myself to Christ, someone else did and I reposted it. The use of drone footage of the river running through Corozal helped ground the musical in a place and the use of mirrored Zoom backgrounds created the illusion that the performers werenвЂ™t miles away, but tucked in the same room.ДЄfter a year of theatres experimenting with virtual shows, вЂњLa LloronaвЂќ is an eerie play that demonstrates progress in virtual storytelling with performances that donвЂ™t feel molded around but rather designed for the medium. To adapt to a streamed production, Cruz condensed the script for the virtual show and managed to do so without abandoning the spirit of the characters or the setting. In вЂњOrange Tree,вЂќ ElenaвЂ™s grandmother Lydia (Journey Washingtonhigh) stands in the field of growing orange trees and reflects on how she used to dream of motherhood before she was forcibly sterilized by the U.S government after her first child - a procedure most mainland Americans are unaware of continues to happen to this day. While the fright and gore in the show was a slow burn packed near the end, viewers await the thematic pay-off while submerged in musical performances like rhythmic bass-fueled вЂњLas BahemiasвЂќ or вЂњCigarillo y Machete.вЂќ The songs also nod to the history of trauma engraved in the Corozal. In the producerвЂ™s notes, Evelyn Kuo wrote the showвЂ™s brilliance doesnвЂ™t just lie within its diversity but that вЂњit is a testament that people of color are fiercely capable of creating entertaining narratives and artwork, and it is a privilege for all of us to appreciate the beauty (and horror!) of the finished product.вЂќ The production team of RamвЂ™s Head Theatrical Society seemed to heed the showвЂ™s theme of foraging ahead by deviating from StanfordвЂ™s historically white theatre scene the staff behind and in front of the screen are mostly people of color. Faced with her sonвЂ™s arrival, Elena grapples with lingering resentment from their history and the raspy voice in her head begging her to kill him. Just as Elena is close to buying the store again five years later, he returns to untangle the mystery around his fatherвЂ™s death under the guise of visiting his ill grandmother. When Gabi turned eighteen, he stole the money from his motherвЂ™s shop to pursue his dreams in America. The police found his corpse in the river behind her house despite insisting she wasnвЂ™t involved, people believed she murdered him for attempting to run away with their young son, Gabi (Dylan Moore). Her reputation among the locals is marred by the death of her husband Carlos years ago. We meet Elena (Shania Santana), a seamstress living in Corozal, a small town in Puerto Rico, sewing dresses to save up money to fulfill her dream of owning a tailor shop. If вЂњLa LloronaвЂќ was ever in jeopardy of rehashing the premise of other horrors about the titular phantom (remember that Llorona surge in 2019 with вЂњLa LloronaвЂќ and вЂњCurse of La LloronaвЂќ released only four months apart? ), the playвЂ™s authentic storyline and settings keep it fresh. It prompts you: Let go of the past lest the past tightens its hold on you. But вЂњLa Llorona,вЂќ Obed de La CruzвЂ™s chilling playwriting debut, doesnвЂ™t draw on the Latinx folklore to blitz you with jump scares. Nostalgic ghost stories make for great drama, hence great theatre. ThatвЂ™s how she became the Weeping Woman, or, as generations of children know her, вЂњLa Llorona.вЂќ Now she stalks the earth at night, her soul haunting the river where she drowned her children. But she was without peace in the afterlife. вЂњYour father loves you more, but IвЂ™ll have you forever,вЂќ she told them before dragging them to a river and drowning them - and immediately regretted it. Their relationship strained, Maria suspected her husband planned to flee with his mistress and take her children away from her. They lived in marital bliss until she caught him with another woman. Long ago, a woman named Maria married a man with whom she had two children.

Family feud curse host