Aquelarres
after the works of Fransisco de Goya y Lucientes
Written by Joel F. Wilshire, directed by Madeline Wall
Produced in the back woods of Edgcumbe Presbyterian Church July 31st-August 15th, 2021
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Seth Campbell
Henry Rose
Frankie Goodman
Liv Kemp
Will Tseng McLane
Anya Naylor
Antonia Perez
Dariana Elise Pérez
Tia Tanzer
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Rachel Anne Brees (Sound Design)
Patrick Brien (Producer)
Soap Curtis (Costume Design)
Emma Lai (Producer)
Robert McGrady (Puppet Design)
Shane Morgan (Production Photographer)
Madeline Wall (Director / Producer)
Rebecca Wickert (Stage Manager / Costume Design)
Joel F. Wilshire (Playwright / Producer)
“Mythopoetic…a welcome stage in the gradual return of live independent theater in all its wonderful weirdness.”
- Jay Gabler, The Tangential
SYNOPSIS
Aquelarres is a political fantasy from the minds of playwright Joel F. Wilshire and painter Goya about a possible saint, a pair of nuns, and a coven of witches who collaborate to overthrow their local government during the Spanish Inquisition.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
“I paint the sky on my walls, a style that I call: ‘better than what came before.’"
-from Aquelarres, Draft 1
Joel has called his play a "political fantasy" and a "surrealist tragedy." Both phrases capture the yearning momentum and the bold imagination that drew me to the script. In Aquelarres, I see grace — goodness but no saints, leadership but no prophets, forward motion but no promise of justice today. Perhaps tomorrow, we can forgive ourselves for our inhumanity. Perhaps tomorrow, we will make the lungs of civilization expand to include more of us, and our forbidden loves will be celebrated. Today our triumphs are luminous, but our failures gleam, as well. A birth is a miracle. It is also only a beginning.
