Se necesitan tres generaciones de monarcas para completar una sola migración, desde los bosques de oyamel en las montañas del centro de México hasta Canadá y de regreso.
It takes three generations of monarchs to finish one complete migration, from the fir forests in the mountains of central Mexico to Canada and back again, director Karen Estrada writes in her notes for On the Wings of a Mariposa. The play by First Stage resident playwright Alvaro Saar Rios is an adaptation of the book Ghost Wings by Cedarburg’s Barbara Joosse.
The monarch’s genetics “tell” the story to the next generation and the one after that. This is how they “remember” the paths. Mariposa is the chronicle of a young girl who discovers that she has the story of her family written within her.
With original music and lyrics by Dinorah Marquez, Estrada is working with a cast that includes young actors. She says she looks for “kids who are willing to work hard and be silly and vulnerable and smart. This is First Stage and that is what is cultivated here.”
There are 10 young performers in each cast. Because the show is bilingual—half English, half Spanish—First Stage made the effort to head into the communities of kids who speak Spanish and are familiar with the culture. Actor and dialect coach Laura Crotte (who plays Abuelita) is a native Spanish speaker who is helping with dialog and pronunciations. “There is a difference between kids who read Spanish and kids who have heard Spanish their whole lives,” Estrada says, “they might speak it but don’t always read it.”
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Bilingual and Bicultural
Estrada has been working on Mariposa for nearly three years, having done two full readings, one at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center and one at Centro de la Comunidad Unida (United Community Center).
“We wanted to make sure that, with the mixed Spanish and English cast, everybody could feel welcome and receive the story,” she says. “We got feedback from people who grew up with the culture and the Day of the Dead festivities to people who have barely heard of it. Coco (the 2007 Disney movie) might have been their first time. There are many Latinx who don’t do a Day of the Dead celebration or do a different version—like many cultural celebrations, there are variations. Mariposa is specifically about Michoacán, which is where the monarchs winter.”
According to Estrada, based on a personal experience, playwright Alvaro Saar Rios developed the idea of recognizing a loved one from a fragrance on clothing. When the young girl in the play, Pilar, discovers her grandmother’s scent is fading from her rebozo, she begins to feel sad, lonely and lost. “She needs her mother, community of friends and family to help her bring the memories back and find comfort and peace, with grief,” Estrada says. “The things that are left can remain for a good long time, but, while the scent of something is ephemeral, it can be a huge trigger for memory.”
Remembering Loved Ones
There is the physical death of our loved ones and there are all the little deaths that continue to happen. The first event without them, the first time you don’t have that dish at a family event. “When things shift, they bring their own batch of grief and mourning. Perhaps, as a Western culture, we don’t allow space for as much?” Estrada wonders.
“Often is the case, when sad things happen, we don’t want to dig up those sad feelings and think about them anymore,” she continues. “But remembering our loved ones can be such a joy and celebration and comfort. None of us get through life without being sad, and we should figure out how to allow that emotion as freely as we do happiness.”
Some of us save answering messages or chose not to delete phone numbers when a loved one passes. Life is a circle. Often, our rituals spring from nature. “It takes so many generations of monarchs to return to Mexico after the migration to Canada,” Estrada says, “ they will go to the same trees, same fields and same places of rest—it is built into their generational signature, their genetic code.”
On the Wings of a Mariposa is the first time Estrada is directing a full-length production. She has been part of First Stage since she was in sixth grade as a student. Since that time, she has been a teacher assistant, an intern and a teacher. She also then subbed in as an administrator at the Springer Theatre Academy in Columbus, Ga.
Not unlike the monarchs of the play, Estrada has returned to familiar touchstones.
When she moved back to Milwaukee, First Stage was one of the first places Estrada came to as an actor and educator, having since performed in about a dozen productions. She also taught in the Next Steps program. “That is one of my favorite things. It is an Academy class geared toward students who have developmental disabilities, are on the autism spectrum or other things that would make them less comfortable in a typical class.”
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With the Day of the Dead celebration, generations of souls return. Looking at the iconography can be a comfort of memories. When memories fade, the love, the long past behind every one of us—and hopefully long future ahead of us—become part of our story. “Any good play is a mix of the intimate and the profound,” Estrada reckons.
First Stage’s On the Wings of a Mariposa runs Oct. 18-Nov. 10 at Todd Wehr Theater, 121 E. State St. For tickets and more information, visit firststage.org.
