Blood Wedding Program

Blood Wedding

By Federico García Lorca, Translated by Lillian Groag

Guest Directed by Leda Hoffmann

The performance runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

Cast

Mother
Paitton Lewis

Bridegroom
Noah Bennett

Neighbor/Beggar Woman
Christopher Quiroz*

Wife
Gabriella Johnson

Mother-in-Law/Moon
Joshua Smith

Leonardo
Jalen Carr

Father
Maggie Miller

Bride
Shannon McCarren

Maid
Angelina Steshenko

Second Girl/Wedding Guest
Denize Totonchi

First Girl/Wedding Guest
Madeline Watson

First Girl Visitor/Wedding Guest
Hannah Allen

Third Girl/Wedding Guest
Somdutta Mukherjee

Wedding Guest/Third Woodcutter
Othman Shuri

First Young Man
Arturo Calderon

Wedding Guest/First Woodcutter
Hayden Beatty

Wedding Guest/Second Woodcutter
Christopher Maxwell Wright

*Appears by permission of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

This translation originally commissioned and produced by the Guthrie Theater, Joe Dowling, Artistic Director.

The use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, either with or without flash, is strictly prohibited. Please silence your cell phones and pagers prior to the beginning of the performance. In consideration of those seated around you, please refrain from texting during the performance.

Hayden Beatty (Wedding Guest/First Woodcutter), senior
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: The Country Wife

Noah Bennett (Bridegroom), graduate student
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Wilderness

Arturo Calderon (First Young Man), sophomore
Hometown: Gilroy, CA
Major(s): English
Minor(s): screenwriting; video arts
Department Productions: Debut

Jalen Carr (Leonardo), graduate student
Hometown: Houston, TX
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Wilderness

Jo Fuller (costume designer), graduate student
Hometown: Elgin, SC
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Violet, The Country Wife, Wilderness

Anne Lang (sound designer), senior
Hometown: Canton, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): LGBTQ+ studies
Department Productions: She Kills Monsters

Joshua Lewis (assistant director; dramaturg), graduate student
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Wilderness

Paitton Lewis (Mother), graduate student
Hometown: Soldotna, AK
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Everybody

Maggie Miller (Father), graduate student
Hometown: Sandpoint, ID
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Everybody

Somdutta Mukherjee (Third Girl/Wedding Guest), junior
Hometown: Delaware, OH
Major(s): pre-med biology
Minor(s): music theory
Department Productions: Debut

Ellie Price (stage manager), junior
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): psychology
Department Productions: The Country Wife, Everybody

Christopher Ryan Quiroz (Neighbor/Beggar Woman), graduate student
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Everybody

Garrett Ratliff (assistant stage manager), junior
Hometown: Plymouth, MI
Major(s): social work
Minor(s): theatre
Department Productions: Wilderness

Othman Shuri (Wedding Guest/Third Woodcutter), sophomore
Hometown: Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: debut

Joshua Smith (Mother-in-Law/Moon), graduate student
Hometown: Gresham, OR
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions: Everybody

Denize Totonchi (Second Girl/Wedding Guest), sophomore
Hometown: Solon, OH
Major(s): environmental and public health
Minor(s): theatre
Department Productions: Debut

Ladini Wallace (scenic and properties designer), senior
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Major(s): theatre
Minor(s): world literature
Department Productions: 1st department production

Madeline Watson (First Girl/Wedding Guest), junior
Hometown: Columbus, OH
Major(s): theatre; linguistics
Minor(s): musical theatre
Department Productions: Violet, The Country Wife, Wilderness

Christopher Maxwell Wright (Wedding Guest/Second Woodcutter), senior
Hometown: Worthington, OH
Major(s): theatre
Department Productions:

Despite being over ninety years old, the play Blood Wedding, written by the renowned Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca, continues to resonate with contemporary audiences. Often considered his magnum opus, Blood Wedding exemplifies many of the hallmarks of Lorca's writing: it is steeped in vivid lyricism, comprised of veiled yet critical social commentary, and rich with naturalistic imagery. The play, which premiered in Madrid in 1933, is typically grouped with Yerma (1934) and The House of Bernarda Alba (1936) to form Lorca's "rural trilogy," as these three works explore people’s complicated and occasionally fraught relationship with the land. While the play is inextricably linked to the milieu in which it was written, Blood Wedding remains relevant today because it explores enduring themes such as prohibited love, the cyclical nature of violence, generational trauma, and the oppressiveness of rigid cultural norms.

Like much of Lorca's work, Blood Wedding deftly integrates real-life events into a figurative world. The writer drew inspiration for the play from a story in his favorite newspaper, El Heraldo de Madrid, which detailed a fatal feud in rural Andalusia (the home province of the playwright and the agricultural powerhouse of Spain). Lorca retained the central elements of this story, in which a bride runs away with her lover on her wedding day and must endure the brutal consequences, but he invigorated it with his signature symbolism. Lorca is considered part of the Generation of '27, a group of influential Spanish poets who experimented heavily with avant-garde forms, and like his contemporaries he often included surrealist elements in his work. This is certainly the case with Blood Wedding, as an ostensibly realistic story is slowly revealed to contain surrealist devices (such as the personification of intangible things, like the Moon and Death). This combination proved a winning formula, as the play has continually been celebrated by audiences and critics alike.

Although Blood Wedding stands up on its own accord, the play gained increased significance after Lorca's assassination during the Spanish Civil War. The playwright drew the ire of right-wing groups because of his outwardly socialist views and his sexual orientation (Lorca was gay, and he reportedly had an unrequited love for his fellow artist Salvador Dali). After Nationalist forces overtook the Second Spanish Republic in a bloody coup, Lorca was kidnapped and summarily executed by a firing squad. Lorca's remains were never discovered, and during the subsequent fascist regime of Francisco Franco, his plays were banned from being produced in Spain because of their allegedly incendiary content. Despite these barriers, Lorca's work continued to be highly regarded and eventually reemerged with the dissolution of Franco's dictatorship and the reinstatement of democratic government in Spain.

On the surface, Blood Wedding may seem to reaffirm regressive values and underscore the repercussions of not embracing them. Upon closer reading, however, it becomes apparent that Lorca is exploring the contention between progressivism and blind adherence to tradition. These unbending strictures, which stymied social reform and acceptance during Lorca's lifetime, are the play’s true antagonists. As such, one can view the play’s tragedy as the main characters' inability to pursue their deepest desires and upend the repressive roles placed on them.

Leda Hoffmann (director) is The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio's Artistic Director where her directing credits include POTUS; 9 to 5 the Musical; Indecent; Head Over Heels; Mr. Burns; and An Iliad. Previously, Hoffmann was Artistic Director at Strawdog Theatre Company in Chicago. Before that, she served on Milwaukee Rep's artistic staff for seven years. Also in Milwaukee, as the Artistic Director of Luminous Theatre, Hoffmann produced and directed site-specific productions of Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play and The Penelopiad. Her work as a director has been seen across the country at Milwaukee Rep, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Texas Shakespeare Festival, University of Miami, Door Shakespeare, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, Jedlicka Performing Arts Center, Northbrook Theatre, The Alchemist Theatre, Max and Louie Productions, and Riverside Theater Iowa City. Hoffmann has also been a teaching artist for over ten years, directing youth and teaching with Hartford Stage, Milwaukee Rep, Mudlark Theater, Northbrook Park District, and Skyline Studios. Hoffmann is a proud graduate of Grinnell College, a former Milwaukee Rep directing resident, Hartford Stage apprentice, SDCF Observer and a member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.

Karl Wohlwend (guitarist) performs across North America, Europe and Asia, playing guitar in various styles and settings. The guitar's greatest strength is its versatility, and he strives to do it all: classical concert halls, rock 'n roll, musical theater pit orchestras, flamenco tablao, jazz clubs, and Irish pubs. He holds a master's degree in classical guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with John Holmquist. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Christopher Berg.

Wohlwend served on the faculties of The Ohio State University, Capital University, Otterbein University and Ohio Wesleyan University. He coordinated the jazz/improvisation program for the Chamber Music Connection, and served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music's Classical Guitar Workshop for twenty years.

He recently accompanied mandolinist Carlos Aonzo; completed a week-long residency with New York's avant-garde ensemble, Alarm Will Sound; toured with Grammy-winning countertenor Ian Howell, including an appearance on Ravinia's Rising Stars series; performed with the Flamenco Company of Columbus at the Chautauqua Festival and with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra; and played with clarinet legend Richard Stoltzman and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra on stage and for their debut recording, Ragomania.

Wohlwend was twice featured as concerto soloist with the Westerville Symphony Orchestra, most recently in 2019 for the rarely-performed Concierto del Sur of Manuel Ponce. He performs frequently as a freelance artist, teaches privately in central Ohio, and builds custom tube guitar amplifiers through his own business, The People's Amplifier. The Outer Banks (North Carolina) Forum for the Lively Arts hailed his "extraordinary talent;" and the Washington, DC Guitar Society praised his "command of technique, beautiful tone and sensitive musicianship."

Wohlwend appears on dozens of recordings, including eight CDs with the Irish bands Knot Fibb'n, Two2Many, and Dogwood Road. His second solo CD, Out of Italy, features the only recording of M. A. Zani de Ferranti's opus 11 Capricci. His projects of five-course baroque guitar music,Passacaglie and Sonate, are the first-ever recordings of the entire Libro primo di chitarra spagnola (1640) of Michele Angiol Bartolotti. He also recorded with lauded flutist Kimberlee Goodman in the EOS Duo, premiering Garrett Ian Shatzer's The Frame. With Stanley Yates, he recorded two volumes of Guitaromanie, including premier recordings of arrangements and compositions by notable 19^th Century composer Ferdinando Carulli.

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Blood Wedding Program

Blood Wedding Program

Blood Wedding

By Federico García Lorca, Translated by Lillian Groag

Guest Directed by Leda Hoffmann

Cast

PRODUCTION TEAM

PRODUCTION CREW

STUDENT CAST & PRODUCTION TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

DRAMATURG'S NOTE

GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

AFTERWORDS

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