Man from Magdalena
ÒÉthe tale takes hold of your heart and mindÉthe music stays with you. An extraordinary piece of art, theater born in their own backyard that is worthy of being seen and heard by millions.Ó Carol St. John, Tubac Villager
In November of 2007, Manuel Jesœs C—rdova Soberanes, a migrant crossing the border, rescued an injured nine-year-old boy whose mother had just been killed in an automobile accident in the desert. Only eight hours from reaching his destination in Tucson, Soberanes halted his journey to help the boy. He later told reporters that he was thinking of his own four children when he decided to stay with the boy throughout the night. ÒI could never have left,Ó he said, Ònever.Ó This event inspired Man from Magdalena, the story of a stranger who reveals himself as an angel in our midst.
ÒÉperfectly harmonized cellist and chorus, reminiscent of the ancient Mexican storytellers. The original music so perfectly complemented the moving story that, at times, I forgot to breathe.Ó Diane Meyer, published in the Green Valley News and Sun
ÒArizona electricity hovered in the air at the premiere showing of "Man From Magdalena". The audience was stunned. Original, moving, completely professional, amazingÉÓ Cathy Anderson, published in the Green Valley News and Sun
Wednesday May 12, 2010 7:00 PM
Tickets $25 Box Office Orders 520-399-1750 or 520-648-0890
Fifty percent of ticket sales go to Kiva (www.kiva.org) to help people in Central America and Mexico establish their own businesses, healing problems at the root of migration.
The play, performed by a storyteller (Patty Willis), vocal quartet (Marla Daugherty, Suzanne Miller, Seja Snow and Patty Willis), piano (Mary Lou Prince) and cello (Helene Benedikte), opens with an overture on the cello and piano. A rancher, living at the heart of this migration, recounts: Hundreds of strangers cross this land every night on their way from south to north. And of course, that crossing is of interest to lots of people. There are people interested in keeping migrants out and there are those invested in getting them north. The land holds tragedy and salvation. The quartet sings Wind in the Desert, touching on the rancherÕs hope for a presence that will catch sparrows fallen in storms.
In Magdalena, as a man is readying himself for the crossing, his mother goes to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe to pray. In the voice of mothers all over the world whose children are setting out on voyages into the unknown, she sings, Watch them on their way. Keep them safe.
The journey begins. The coyote cracks the whip; he will keep his group to their path. They set off into the desert. Almost at his destination, the man from Magdalena spies the boy by the side of their path.
In an incredible act of kindness, he gives him his jacket and stays with him throughout the cold night. The stars will guard us, he sings. To keep the boy alive, he gives up his dream. The stranger becomes an angel of mercy.
Author/Storyteller: Patty Willis
Composer/Pianist: Mary Lou Prince
Cello: Helene Benedikte
Madera Vocal Quartet: Marla Daugherty, Suzanne Miller, Seja Snow and Patty Willis
About the Writers:
Patty Willis (author-actress) and Mary Lou Prince (composer-pianist) began writing for musical theater during their 24-year sojourn in Japan. They both won national awards for their work with Japanese instruments and theater forms. They co-founded a theater company in Japan that performed at international festivals, twice at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Festival, Fringe, and on sacred Noh stages all over Japan.
Shortly after moving back to the United States in 2007, Prince took the job of music director at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and subsequently became composer-in-residence.
Willis is a second year student of pastoral ministry at Earlham School of Religion and the
recipient of the 2010 Thomas Mullen Ministry of Writing Fellowship. (Her youth novel,
Hoshi no Furu Mura, is recommended reading by the Japanese National Library Association.)
The collaborations between Prince and Willis include a cantata, Songs of the Earth; a childrenÕs musical, FridaÕs Colores; a film, Feast of Light; theater works including When the Woman Who Loved Insects Hid and Just Between the Three of Us; and over 40 songs for choir, childrenÕs choir and solo voice.