美国国家公共电台 NPR Repertorio Espa?ol Celebrates 50 Years With A World Premiere

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

One of the oldest and most distinguished¹ Spanish-language theaters in the U.S. is New York's Repertorio Espanol. It presents hundreds of performances every year. This year, it's celebrating its 50th anniversary with a world premiere by a Pulitzer Prize winner. Jeff Lunden has more.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE²: Repertorio Espanol performs in a converted Manhattan townhouse. It's tiny and kind of funky³.

ROBERT FEDERICO: It started actually as a private house, and then they took the backyard and made it into the stage area.

LUNDEN: Robert Federico, the company's executive producer, leads the way backstage...

FEDERICO: So be very careful.

LUNDEN: ...To very rickety wooden stairs.

FEDERICO: And now we've actually come up two flights to the dressing⁴ room area. This is where we store usually the small props⁵ in this hallway.

LUNDEN: And the sets are designed to be stashed⁶ flush against walls on either side of the stage behind black curtains.

FEDERICO: So let me show you a little bit more. As you can see, the scenery here is now for "Coronel" with even a cage for the rooster.

LUNDEN: The rooster is a co-star of "El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba" based on a novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROOSTER CROWING)

FEDERICO: Yeah, OK.

LUNDEN: Repertorio Espanol was the brainchild of several exiled Cuban women who called themselves Las Artes. Their idea was to present classic Spanish plays in Spanish, says Robert Federico, who joined the company a few years later.

FEDERICO: When we started in 1968, most of the actors and artists and audiences were exiles from dictatorships - at that time, Argentina and Chile, Uruguay, Cuba, the violence in Colombia. Over the years, it's become less so as democracy flourished in Latin America and more economic exiles from the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Of course there were always a huge community of Puerto Ricans here.

LUNDEN: As the company and community evolved, so did the offerings. Repertorio has commissioned adaptations of Latin American novels and new plays.

NILO CRUZ: I think Repertorio's a little gem⁷ in this city, in this country. The work that they're doing is very special.

LUNDEN: Nilo Cruz has had three plays produced here and was asked to write a fourth specifically for the 50th anniversary.

CRUZ: One of the things that fascinates me about Repertorio is what they're able to do with their space and how they're able to transform it. But I find that with all their projects, language is the most important thing.

LUNDEN: Cruz's "Anna In The Tropics" made him the first Latino playwright⁸ to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2003. It was produced on Broadway in English. Cruz translated it to Spanish for Repertorio.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "ANNA IN THE TROPICS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Spanish).

LUNDEN: For non-Spanish-speaking audiences, the Repertorio provides simultaneous translations as text on a small screen on the back of the seats. The actors still come from all over the world, like German Jaramillo from Colombia. He plays the colonel opposite the rooster.

GERMAN JARAMILLO: Any actor in the Hispanic world wants to come to work here because it's a great honor to be part of this company.

LUNDEN: Another company member, Luis Carlos de la Lombana, was born in Spain.

LUIS CARLOS DE LA LOMBANA: We can be like a little embassy of the Latino reality not only in New York but in Latin America and South America. And that really transports you there. I mean, it's a great thing.

LUNDEN: He's been a leading man at Repertorio for 10 years, starring in such plays as an adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love In The Time Of Cholera⁹."

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character, speaking Spanish).

LUNDEN: More than a third of Repertorio Espanol's performances are for student audiences, part of the company's active education program. Again, Nilo Cruz...

CRUZ: How amazing that this young people are being introduced to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to Lorca? How wonderful that in this country and through this theater the young people get to know some of the Spanish classics and some of the new work?

LUNDEN: And their parents appreciate it, too. Members of a book club made up of parents from the local middle school come to the theater every year to see adaptations of novels they've read. This time, it was "El Colonel."

ANGELA SILVERIO: We read the book, so when Repertorio decided¹⁰ to make the play, we said we have to be there.

LUNDEN: And Angela Silverio said it was great.

SILVERIO: You know, Repertorio always does a great job.

LUNDEN: With or without live roosters.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROOSTER CROWING)

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 funky   

adj.畏缩的，怯懦的，霉臭的；adj.新式的，时髦的

参考例句：

• The kitchen smelled really funky.这个厨房有一股霉味。
• It is a funky restaurant with very interesting art on the walls.那是一家墙上挂着很有意思的绘画的新潮餐馆。

4 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

5 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

6 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

8 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

9 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。