Scenic Design by Leigh Henderson

Teatro Visión (San José, CA), World Premiere October 2018

By Evelina Fernández with Teatro Visión

Directed by Elisa Marina Alvarado

Departera is an original work created by Teatro Visión with playwright Evelina Fernández and composer Russell Rodríguez through a 2-year community based process that drew upon the stories and beliefs of the Bay Area Latinx community.

Departera centers on Doña Juana. She is like a midwife (a partera), but instead of bringing babies into this world, she helps the dying move on. As she trains her young protégé, Connie, she also comes to grips with her own past and future. Departera is a story full of humor, profoundly contemporary, yet informed by indigenous beliefs.

Departera’s scenery is inspired by the architecture of east San José’s Mayfair neighborhood and the Teotihuacan murals of México. The shape conveys the intertwining of this life with the next and facilitates travel and communication across the barriers of life and death.