Tanya Saracho's World Premiere THE TENTH MUSE Opens Tonight at Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The world premiere of Tanya Saracho's The Tenth Muse will open at 8:00 p.m. tonight, July 27 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Directed by Laurie Woolery, the play is an OSF commission. The play is the final show to open in the 2013 season, joining nine other productions in repertory.

Saracho's work is marked by a dedication to giving truthful, vibrant expression to the broad range of Latina voices and perspectives in the U.S. and Mexico. In this new work, her inspiration was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the 17th-century Mexican nun and writer, who was silenced by the Church and made to renounce her writings to keep the Inquisition at bay.

Set in 1715, three young women of vastly different backgrounds arrive at the Convent of San Jeronimo. Thrown together in a crowded basement storage room, the girls are warned by a strict nun, Sor Rufina, not to open the locked armoire in the corner. Of course they do, and find the literary treasures of Sor Juana, who had been at the same convent 20 years before. Finding one of her plays, they take to acting it out each night, uncovering their own secrets, desires and talents, and learning the danger that speaking these words presents to themselves and the convent.

"We are delighted to present Tanya's poignant and life-affirming play," said Artistic Director Bill Rauch. "Tanya broadens our world with her storytelling, infusing her writing with understanding, complexity and courage."

Director Laurie Woolery finds the play very personal. "That I am able to live my life as an artist is directly connected to Sor Juana and the generations of women who followed her. As a first-generation American, that I have the opportunity to "speak up" as a Latina director, directing a play written by a Latina playwright, with a magnificent cast of women, is living proof that Sor Juana's legacy is alive today."

The cast features Judith-Marie Bergan as Mother Superior, Wilma Bonet as Sor Filomena/Indigenous Woman, Alejandra Escalante as Manuela, Vivia Font as Jesusa, Sofia Jean Gomez as Sor Isabel, Vilma Silva as Sor Rufina, Sabina Zuniga Varela as Tomasita and Katie Medford, Avery Proctor and Shadee Vossoughi in the Ensemble.

The scenic design is by Richard L. Hay, costumes by Christopher Acebo, lighting by Jane Cox, and music composition and sound by Rodolfo Ortega. Dramaturgs on the project are Luis Alfaro and Lue Morgan Douthit. Voice and text director is Rebecca Carey; fight director is U. Jonathan Toppo and stage manager is Jeremy J. Eisen.

The Tenth Muse runs through November 2. There will be open-captioned performances on August 15 and September 25, and Spanish open-captioned performances on October 24 and 26. For tickets, visit www.osfashland.org or call the Box Office at 541-482-4331 or 800-219-8161.

The Lead Sponsors of The Tenth Muse are Deedee and Burt McMurtry. Production Sponsors are the Goatie Foundation and Ed McCurtain, and Production Partners are Julie Strasser Dixon and Rocky Dixon.

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