Scenic and Projection Design by Leigh Henderson

Teatro Visión (San José, CA), May 2018

Adapted for the stage by Amy Ludwig

from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Directed by Wilma Bonet

The House on Mango Street is the classic coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Esperanza growing up on Chicago’s Mango Street, but dreaming of a bigger world. The story unfolds through a series of vignettes narrated by a pair of Esperanzas - one a child experiencing in the moment, the other an adult looking back on her formative youth.

Teatro Visión’s The House on Mango Street was performed by young actors age 12 to 18, the first play with a youth cast in the history of a theater company more than three decades old. The set design embraces the possibilities of working with a youth cast while succeeding within the financial constraints of new program produced by a theater company of profound ambition but modest means.

The modular set design and vibrant colors facilitate the joyous and imaginative physical performance characteristic of children, functioning both as a representation of the urban environment and as a manifestation of Esperanza’s quick mind and memory. The cloudscape painted on the stage floor offers the sense of a dream, evoking openness and possibility in contrast to the skyline of Chicago projected overhead, which serves as both a reminder of the oppressive urban backdrop of Esperanza’s experiences and a surface on which to project Spanish language translations.