The Don Juan myth is something that lives in our cultural consciousness and has been told over the centuries: from Tirso de Molina, to Moliere, to Don Giovanni to the modern day “player”. But this story of a “fickle man,” who seduces women and then betrays them has only ever been told from the perspective of men. Now it’s time to switch it up. Ana Caro reinvigorates this myth with a feminine voice and reframes it as the woman’s quest for justice rather than the man’s confrontation with his sins. Full of confessions of love, mistaken identities, and quests for justice, Valor, agravio y mujer explores what it means to seek justice in a world that says you cannot have it.
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
I’ve always been interested in the classics. I first fell in love with directing through working on Shakespeare. But doing a classic show in the studio never felt doable. I was interested in translation and spanish language in performance, and the Spanish Golden Age felt unattainable, impossible to explore with the little training that I had. And then 2020 happened. My plans for my senior year and my thesis fell apart, and I needed to find a new line of research. That is when I started to dig deeper into this body of work. I stumbled upon a new anthology of Spanish Golden Age work and the name Ana Caro popped out amongst the Lope de Vega’s and Calderon de la Barca’s. At first I couldn’t believe that I was reading a woman’s name. I found out it was a real thing and that she had two extant plays and I pursue these plays and the research around her work feverently. The more I discovered, the more urgent it felt to work on one of her plays and bring it to an audience in some way, shape, or form right now.
Why hadn’t I heard about her? How did no one know around me know that there was a large body of classic works written by women in Spain? How had this been lost throughout the years? Ana Caro was a very popular playwright in her time, with many records of her shows being put on, but why did only two of her plays exist? How had she been erased from our narrative of the Golden Age until the past 20-30 years? The most recent biography of hers, written in 2017 by Juana Escabais, uncovered her death records, which showed that she died of the plague in an epidemic in Seville in the 1640s. In the customs of the time, all of her belongings, including all of her unpublished works, were burned to get rid of the disease. It’s impossible not to see the parallels to today and the timeliness of her work. We are all realizing the horrible effects disease can have on human populations and those who are marginalized in our society. Given this discovery, it felt even more important to bring this voice that was taken away from us by disease to life in a time where disease is taking so much from us again.
But then I was faced with the question of what it meant to do this show in the 21st century virtually to an english speaking audience. What does it mean to translate a Spanish Golden Age play written by a woman? What does it mean to translate a show into the virtual space? How do we find the voice of someone who was an exception in her time? These are questions that have guided my quest and I continue to ask myself. I don’t have the answers. All I know is that Ana Caro could have never imagined that 400 years after she put pen to paper that a team led by women would be reading her words in english on a thing called Zoom that exists on computers on the internet. So we can’t be precious. We have to tell the story we want to tell with the way we interpret the words she has given us. And that is all we can do. Zoom has become the way that we are doing theatre right now, for better or for worse. Metatheatricality was a huge theme in the Golden Age and within this work. Ana Caro manipulated the theatrical conventions of her time to not only tell the story but to comment on the way it was told. In that spirit, I felt an obligation to take advantage of this new way that we are making theatre. It felt like a disservice to the spirit of the text to try to make the Zoom disappear and pretend that we were in the same room together. Because we aren’t. And we cannot ignore that fact.
When the world fell apart, I was faced with many decisions. But while many doors were closing, a couple were opening, and they have led me down the path to where I am now. This time has been all about finding the joy in what we can, and this production is the fruit of that quest for joy. I have learned so much about what matters to me in my work, how to work collaboratively with a team in ways that I never imagined, and how important it is to always love what you do. I am eternally grateful to every single person in the cast and the crew that went on this journey of joy with me. All I did was ask questions. They answered every single one fully and excitedly. This thing that we have made was not created by me. It was created by them. I hope that you find a little joy and maybe learn something in the next 2 hours as you watch us galavant across your screen and take inspiration from the Lion King 1 ½.
“Tanto, que aun quieren poetizar las mujeres, y se atreven a escribir comedias ya/
Even women want to write poetry and dare to write plays.”
-Ribete, 1167-1170, Valor, agravio y mujer by Ana Caro
With all of the love and joy that can possibly be sent across the Zoom-isphere,
- Sofia Ubilla, Director
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CAST AND CREW
Directed by: Sofia Ubilla
Scenic Designer: Katie Heaton
Costume Designer: Sloan Mulloy and Caeleigh Lillis
Lighting Designer: Vittoria Orlando
Sound Designer: Amelia Way
Stage Manager: Alden Kennedy
Assistant Director: Michelina Smith
Editor: Ryan Shearin
Assistant Stage Manager: Julia Walker
Featuring:
Johnny Travers
Ana-Sophia Colon
David Wilson
Lili Rebelo
Ashira Fischer-Waschpress
Ethan Mock
Grant Sower
Emma Durocher
BIOS
ANA SOPHIA COLÓN
Lenor
Ana Sophia is excited to be a part of this incredible cast! She is currently a Senior Performance Major. Mainstage: To the Bone (Juana) and Men on Boats (Seneca Howland/The Bishop). Studio: El desvarío (Soledad) and The Wallpaper Project (Actress). Other: Dear Me (Liv). A huge thank you to Sofia and the design and production teams for making this journey memorable. I am eternally grateful to my wonderful friends and family! Enjoy the show :)
JOHNNY TRAVERS
Juan
Johnny is a Fordham University Theatre Performance Major. He is currently a senior, and previous Fordham shows he has been involved in are Airline Highway (role of Wayne Murphy, Mainstage) and Anne of the Thousand Days (Boleyn/More, Studio). He is incredibly excited to be a part of this wonderful production with a fantastic cast and crew!
ASHIRA FISCHER-WACHSPRESS
Estela
Ashira is a sophomore Acting and Anthropology double major, and she is beyond excited to work on Valor, Agravio, y Mujer, especially in this apocalyptic time. She was last seen in Fordham Studio's Anne of the Thousand Days (Anne Boleyn) last fall. She would like to exude bunches of gratitude to her castmates and the entire artistic and technical team, but especially to Sofia for such a wonderful process. Please please enjoy :)
GRANT SOWER
Ludovico
Grant is a sophomore in the Fordham Theatre program on the performance track and is very excited to be playing Ludovico in this unprecedented production of Valor, Agravio, y Mujer by Ana Caro. Past credits include Norris in last year's Fordham Studio production of Anne of the Thousand Days directed by Ashlyn Frank as well as a bunch of other stuff he knows you wouldn't really care about. He would like to thank the entire cast and crew for all of their care and support as well as Sofia Ubilla for directing this show like nobody's business. He thanks you for logging on to see the show and hopes you enjoy yourself!
SOFIA UBILLA
Director
Sofia is a senior Directing Major and Spanish Studies Double Major. She is so excited to share this beautiful play with the world, even if it is just virtually! Fordham Studio: Cloud Tectonics (Director), Dark Play, or Stories for Boys (AD), Intelligence (AD), La Metamorfosis (ACD), Machinal (ASD), Gruesome Playground Injuries (AD). Fordham Mainstage: To The Bone (AD), Antigonick (AD) The Way West (Sound Board Op) Off Broadway: Spanking Machine (Associate Director) at Dixon Place, Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Sound Design) at INTAR Theatre. She is eternally grateful to every single person involved in this production for going on this crazy journey with her, even when she had no idea what she was doing. It has been such a source of joy in these turbulent times. All of my love to all of you.
MICHELINA SMITH
Assistant Director
Michelina is a freshman Theatre Directing major and is beyond exciting to be making her Fordham Theatre debut! Previous credits include SONDER: A Cabaret Story (playwright, director), Freaky Friday (Katherine Blake, choreographer), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia). Huge thanks Sofia and the entire production team/cast for making her first Fordham Theatre experience a positive one. Sending socially-distanced hugs to you all!
VITTORIA ORLANDO
Lighting Designer
Vittoria is a senior on the design and production track. Mainstage: Twelfth Night (Assc. LD), Orlando (ALD), Antigonick (ALD), Mr. Burns (ME) Select Studio: Enterprise (DP), The Most Massive Woman Wins (LD), Electricity (LD), Delirium (LD), Where Does The Light Go (PD), Dark Play or Stories for Boys (LD), Eurydice (LD) Off-Broadway: A Strange Loop (Lighting Intern) at Playwrights Horizons, The Way She Spoke (Projections Intern) at Minetta Lane Theater. Other: Dark Play or Stories for Boys (LD) at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, In the Same Space (PD) at Dixon Place.
MELLIE WAY
Sound Designer
Senior Sound Designer and interdisciplinary artist. Sound Design: Into me see, Louisiana Garbage Kings, The Wallpaper Project, The Most Massive Woman Wins, Up, Up & Away, Dark Play or Stories for Boys, Conversations with Stars/March On!, Dark Play or Stories for Boys (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Set Design: Cloud Tectonics, Enterprise. Other: Grease (Sandy). @ameliawaydesign
RYAN SHEARIN
Editor
Ryan is a senior performance major. Many thanks to Sofia, Alden, and the whole team for bringing me on to this beautiful project.
LILI REBELO
Ribete
Lili is a senior performance major last seen rowing on the river in Men on Boats (Sumner). Other Fordham credits include MainStage: To the Bone (Lupe), Mr. Burns (Itchy), Antigonick (Chorus). Studio: Intelligence (Quinn). Thank you to Sofia for trusting me, Alden for taking care of us all, and the whole VAM team for always being my "rose" of the day.
DAVID WILSON
Fernando
David is a senior theatre performance major. Mainstage: Airline Highway (Terry), Twelfth Night (Sebastian), Mr. Burns (Sam). Studio: We Are Proud to Present...(Actor 2), Erotophobia (Deacon), Conversations With Stars (Man), La Metamorfosis (Chief/Boarder), The Charlatans: A New Musical (Enoch Ford). Much love to the cast and crew and a big thanks to Sofia for making this new adventure so fulfilling!
EMMA DUROCHER
Lisarda
Emma is a rising junior performance major and Latin American Studies Major at Fordham University. She is super excited to be in her first studio show, even though it's on Zoom. She is so grateful for this cast and crew and being able to stay in touch with everyone, even though she’s across the country from them. :)
ETHAN MOCK
Tomilo
Ethan is a sophomore Theatre Performance major from Houston, Texas. Fordham Studio: B.R.E.A.D. (Bahorel), Anne of the Thousand Days (Smeaton/Fisher). Other: Cymbeline (Posthumus), Romeo & Juliet (Mercutio), Antony & Cleopatra (Scarus/Attendant), Spring Awakening (Melchior). Thanks to the company for going on this wild Zoom-venture.
ALDEN KENNEDY
Production Stage Manager
Main Stage: Twelfth Night (SM) Studio: The Most Massive Woman Wins (PSM), Conversation with Stars (PSM), Delirium (SM) Other: 2020 Senior Performance Showcase (PSM) Endless thanks and love to Julia, Sofia, Michelina, the cast, and designers.
JULIA WALKER
Assistant Stage Manager
Julia is a freshman Design and Production student who is so beyond excited to start her Fordham theatre journey with this incredible show! Upcoming Studio Shows: Enterprise (Costume Designer), Into Me See (ASM and Costume Designer), Louisiana Garbage Kings (ARG Developer). Previous Credits include MC Live (producer, director), Ladies of the Jury (SM and Set Designer), Cinderella (SM), and David and Lisa (ASM and Set Designer). This has been such a fun process and I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, Sofia, Alden and everyone else on the team that made my first production at Fordham so memorable. I love you all so much!
KATIE HEATON
Scenic Designer
Katie is a sophomore design and production major. She's thrilled to have worked with this lovely team! Studio: Electricity (ASD), Up Up & Away (Scenic Painter), Most Massive Woman Wins (Scenic Painter), Cloud Tectonics (ASD), My Paper Maché Monster (SD), Valor, Agravio, y Mujer (SD). Thank you so much to the cast and crew!
CAELEIGH LILLIS
Co-Costume Designer
Caeleigh is a freshman theatre design major and they are so excited for their first Fordham show! Other studio: Louisiana Garbage Kings (Researcher/ARG designer). Biggest thanks to Sofia for being the best director and making the college transition experience easy and fun!
SLOAN MULLOY
Co-Costume Designer
Sloan is a freshman Theatre Design and Production major, and she’s excited to be making her Fordham Theatre debut! Many thanks and love to the entire cast and crew!