Tufts' Pens, Paint, and Pretzels fall major, Jose Rivera's "Marisol," projects an image of America on the brink of doom. After the devastating effects of the AIDS epidemic, disease and disaster were widespread, and according to "Marisol's" director, senior Ari Rosenbaum, the play offers answers about how to live in today's world.
"We are living in the aftermath of the [AIDS epidemic]," Rosenbaum said, "Marisol offers an answer about how to live after what was viewed as the end of the world."
"Marisol" follows the journey of Marisol Perez, a middle-class science book publisher living in the Bronx during the apocalypse. A guardian angel comes to her, informing her that the angels are rising up in rebellion against a senile God slowly allowing the world to crumble, apples and coffee to vanish, and the moon to disappear.
Marisol refuses to help the angel overthrow God, believing that God will shelter her. Unfortunately, Marisol is mistaken. God's weakness throws New York City into a tumultuous twilight zone of constant night, without food or shelter, with Nazis roaming the streets out to torture anyone who can't pay their credit card bills. Throughout the play, Marisol tries to appeal to God for help, and eventually finds that she must learn to protect herself instead of relying on a nonexistent divine power.
The play sends a meaningful message about taking control of one's destiny and striving to make changes in the world. Marisol must choose between putting her faith in God or the angels as her world disintegrates before her very eyes.
Produced only two years after the phenomenal "Angels in America," which also depicted an angel coming down to prophesize the end of the world, many saw "Marisol" as a cheap knock-off, Rosenbaum explained. The shows were actually written simultaneously and they share similar themes. However, Rosenbaum said that he believes "Marisol" has "a more pertinent message to today's world because it's not placed in a specific time period."
"Marisol" is Rosenbaum's third directorial project at Tufts, but his first with full access to costume, set and lighting design. He has taken full advantage of these resources, creating a set of broken glass and decaying concrete, with wire images of crosses hidden in the debris. The entire feel of the piece is harsh and industrial; the guardian angel wears black combat boots, and dark red lights frequently pierce the stage.
Rosenbaum has also given a much larger and more permanent role to a few homeless characters that are briefly mentioned in a stage direction.
"I wanted to make a commentary on class, on homelessness" Rosenbaum said. "I wanted people to have a chance to look at homeless people as real people."
Fallen angels are present throughout the play, embodied in the homeless people on the street. They are referred to as "the fallen" and are almost always silently present on stage, creating the feel of the world in which Marisol lives and reminding us that it is not so different from our own.
Viewers will find it difficult to leave this unique production of "Marisol" without a newfound perspective on the world and daily life in general. A trip over to the Balch Arena Theater this weekend is certain to provide food for thought.
