Directing a Play by Rudolfo Anaya: Un recuerdo y muchas memorias

In 1987 I had the honor of directing the world premiere of Rudolfo Anaya’s play, Who Killed Don José? for La Compañía de Teatro de Alburquerque1. Much has been written about the import and impact of Anaya’s novels and other writings but very little has been published about his plays. In his “Comments from the playwright” preceding his collection titled Billy the Kid and other Plays, Anaya wrote, “I was a drop in the bucket of the Chicano Theater movement that came alive during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 70s.” (Anaya, Who Killed Don José x). He then reminds his readers that performances and rituals have been a part of the of the indigenous, Spanish and mestizo cultures of New Mexico for centuries. Indeed, Los Pastores is undoubtedly the play in which a fifth-grade Rudy Anaya played that shepherd, a play that was brought to the Américas by the Spanish colonizers. It was only natural that this man of many voices should turn his gaze to the stage as another platform on which to bring to life his fellow Nuevo Mexicanos, their history and cultures.