[su_label type=”info”]Column: The Devil’s Advocate[/su_label]

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Carlos Barón

For more than 10 years, the Community Music Center (CMC) has produced “La Posarela,” a musical/theater celebration of the journey of Joseph and Mary as they search for a safe space where baby Jesus can be born. They knock on many doors… and they are denied at many doors. Finally, as the story goes, Mary delivers the miracle baby in a humble stable, surrounded by gentle animals. Everyone rejoices, evil is defeated, piñatas are broken.

The original production became extremely popular in our community. It involved more than 70 participants of various ages: musicians, singers and actors. It was a veritable community effort and I can say that it truly filled both performers and audiences with good spirits.

I took part in in the production for many years. I wrote the theatrical script and played the part of “El Diablote,” (The Devil) for nine straight years.

Since this column is called “The Devil’s Advocate,” perhaps some might think that I have fallen under the influence of the fallen angel. “It ain’t necessarily so,” as the song from “Porgy and Bess”—the opera by George Gershwin—goes. I believe that I have stayed objectively rooted on earth, between Heaven and Hell—human.

I will not deny that I enjoyed the way audiences booed me when I played “El Diablote” and the way they laughed at the outrageous statements delivered by the character. In “La Posarela,” The Devil, the archetypal adversary (or “antagonist,” in theater jargon), makes the audience laugh and/or recoil in disgust, real or feigned. Most importantly though, he makes us think.

I spoke with the young Marcelo Javier Pereira, a Guatemalan-American theater artist born and raised in San Francisco and a founding member of the Bay Area Theater Company (BATCO). When he announced that BATCO was producing the 2017 show, I was very happy. Marcelo had directed the last “Posarela” show in 2015 and he had proved to be a capable director.

BATCO itself is beginning to get noticed as an important addition to the Bay Area theater scene, a group that—as Marcelo says—“aims to be reflective of the authentic perspectives and histories of the SF Bay Area. It is important that our stage is peopled by the multicultural and multiethnic reality of the area. Today, that reality is getting rapidly eroded by gentrification.” He pauses briefly and finishes, passionately: “But we are not going to give it up! Our stories need to be told!”

Marcelo Pereira, together with his long-time friend and collaborator Rodney Jackson (the choreographer in the current production), who was also born and raised in San Francisco, founded BATCO after both went to college on the East Coast, in order to further their theater careers. Rodney, who is African-American, received a scholarship to attend Carnegie Mellon. Marcelo attended Syracuse University.

“We have been friends since we were 13-year-old kids,” Marcelo said. “We met on the summer before we entered High School, at SOTA [School of the Arts in San Francisco].”

Back on the East Coast, they found each other again, as they tested the waters of the New York theater scene.

“The East Coast is still the main place to learn the traditional American Theater, specially the musical form,” Marcelo said. “But we both missed the SF Bay Area and wanted to get back to San Francisco. Our stories have not been told. I mean, we love the glitter, flowers and rainbows [of the traditional theater], but we started BATCO because these two queer men of color had something to say in our theater.”

I asked him about the role of White people in their multicultural, multi-ethnic theater and he smiles: “White is still part of the narrative, but it’s not controlling it!”

In the 2017 production of “La Posarela,” the urgent issues of immigration, xenophobia, gentrification and sexism will be highlighted. Of course, with the usual healthy dose of traditional holiday songs that characterizes the show and this time adding more intricate choreography and with a bilingual script, where Spanish is central.

“After I directed ‘La Posarela’ in 2015, my sister and my mother told me: ‘Your company should produce this show.’ They thought that ‘La Posarela,’ sadly, becomes more and more relevant with every passing minute,” Marcelo said. “They were right. This time, I believe that we will entice even more political insight and depth into the plot. And better acting, singing and dancing!”

I have stayed as the writer, but the role of “El Diablote” is now played by a young, upcoming Chicano actor, Tony Ortega, who played the role of “José” in an earlier “Posarela.” When I saw him, during a rehearsal, he hugged me and said, happily: “I always wanted to play The Diablote!” I second that emotion.

I will not be playing El Diablote this year, but I am not unhappy about it. After collaborating with Marcelo Pereira on an improved script, with new songs and stronger characters and after attending rehearsals and seeing the obvious quality of the cast, I am convinced that the 2017 “La Posarela” will be an exciting production.

Now, all that is missing is you: the audience.

“La Posarela” will be showing at The​ ​Brava​ Theater Center, located at 2781 24th St. It previews Thursday, Dec. 14 at 8 p.m.​ (Pay-What-You-Can Night), and shows Friday, Dec. 15 and Saturday, Dec. 16 at​ ​8 p.m.,​ and closes Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $15-$40, and are available at sfbatco.org/laposarela. Groups sales available for parties of 8 or more. For more info, contact info@sfbatco.org