The Sound of Theatre

EDINBURG, Texas- The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s department of theatre is making a return this fall after COVID-19 forced it to stop doing live theater for more than a year.

The department’s first live show will be “Tomas and the Library Lady,” based off of Pat Mora’s book of the same title and adapted by playwright, Jose Cruz Gonzalez. Auditions for the play took place from Aug. 9 through Aug.11. “I am glad that we are finally able to get back to being in the theater. It was hard for the last year and a half, you know, the last show we did was, ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ and we had to end it early,” said Richard Edmonson, a lecturer in the department of theatre and director of “Tomas and the Library Lady.”  He said “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”  “ran for one weekend instead of two weekends as planned. We never, you know, got to officially end and say goodbye to everybody.”

Edmonson also said how they [faculty] were in search of a script that would uplift faculty, students and audiences when the department opens again.  

“As the first show welcoming everybody back into the theater; we were reading through a lot of different scripts, and trying to choose something that was appropriate

And then this script was actually recommended to me by both Jennifer Saxton and Eric Wiley, and they were familiar with it. When I read it I said, ‘Oh great this is going to be something good that we should do for sure’.” He also said the show is about empathy and overcoming fears and how these two themes are important because of the times people are living in.

“It touches on empathy, like trying to understand other people and where they’re coming from, and what they’ve been through, and I think that is really important right now as well.  It touches on this whole issue of teaching and learning and how we can learn from each other. A lot of times, when we learn, it’s unexpected and so we never know who can teach us and who we are going to learn from as well. But it’s an important thing. The other important thing is that the show touches on overcoming fear. It is one of the bigger themes in the show. So, the main character has a lot of fears about learning and going to school and dealing with the teachers in particular. So this is so important because that is such a relevant theme right now amongst all of us in society. And it’s like, you know, yes, we are fearful to an extent, but how can we overcome it, right? We kind of have to have a vision and the will and readiness to step forward and try something and do something, no matter what the outcome may be. We kind of have to let our fears aside. So all those messages in the show are really important. I think that those are the reasons I really identified with the script and then also wanted to choose it for the first show; I think that’s the beautiful thing about theatre. You  learn these lessons in the plays, but then we see that they actually apply to our real life.”

For UTRGV theatre students, this will be the first time they get to audition for a main stage show after a year and a half of not being able to do so. For many, this opportunity is exciting but they know that things will be different compared to how theatre was before the pandemic. 

Senior and theatre major, Max Ruvalcaba said that for him, the situation is sad. “It feels a little sad actually because we are not going to get to, like, have big productions for a while, I think. And you don’t really get that sense of community, and I just feel like it’s, you know, we are doing what we can, but it’s not going to be the same. I just feel the sooner people get vaccinated and everything works out, we’re going to go back to  the old times eventually.” 

In addition, Alonso Garcia, a senior and theatre major, said that what he misses the most about theatre is the environment. “It always made me feel really special, just being able to come to the carpet [lobby] and seeing people on the floor that I recognized and just talking, chilling and laughing, you know? And then the fact that you get to work with them in a lot of the projects. That was always very wonderful for me. What I’m looking forward to the most about coming back is basically the same thing. I’m looking forward to the environment because I’ve literally been locked in my room, staring at the wall for months. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing all of my old friends and maybe making new friends.

However, the department will take safety precautions when classes start because cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant are rising. “We are still working through some of those details but, you know, for now, we’ll follow the safety protocol as much as possible.  We are encouraging everybody involved in the production to still wear your face mask and to be socially distant, to wash your hands and disinfect surfaces, and all of that important protocol right now. So yeah, we’re trying to be as aware as possible of those things and you know, things change all the time so there may be other rules and regulations we will have to follow along the way,” said Edmonson. 

Etuan Hurtado, a senior theatre major and assistant stage manager for the show said, “It’s just a wild notion that all of this has been empty for two years. It’s going to be packed again. It’s scary and emotional, but it’s an exciting notion.”

“Tomas and the Library Lady” will show  Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 3 at 2:00 p.m. at the UTRGV Albert L. Jeffers Theatre. The UTRGV department of theatre will also hold a show for sensory audiences on Oct. 2 at 2:00 p.m. and another with an  American Sign Language interpreter at 7:30 p.m. For more information regarding purchasing tickets, visit their website at https://www.utrgv.edu/theatre/index.htm.