Extra Credit: La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin

The Los Angeles Theatre Center Flyer.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a performance, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin, directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, a professor at UCLA. The play narrated the four appearances of the Virgen de Guadalupe to Juan Diego and the process of religious conversion made possible through the conquista. The ambiance was very lively in that there was a lot of color, lights, decorations, and the smell of copal plus danza Azteca filled the cathedral with greater energy.

What I found the most interesting was the fact that all the actors and audience prayed to La Virgen at the end of the performance. We asked for her to protect the poor and undocumented, bless the sick, aid those victims who suffer in the hands of terrorists, domestic abuse and sexual assault, and allied with various communities in that we reassured that not only do Black lives matter, but all lives matter.  This was a very heart-warming and empathizing experience for me because we spoke about contemporary issues and whether or not people believe in the La Virgen, I believe we were able to humanize the space by praying to a deity/god on behalf of those who were not physically there.

Reflecting on the role La Virgen de Guadalupe played, she was depicted very traditionally, with her long, starry dress/cloak and her hands together in prayer form. Thus, thinking about our discussions in class about how Chicana artists refigure La Virgen, I thought, "How would the react if they saw La Virgen with a shorter dress and walking in heels like in Yolanda Lopez’s Walking Guadalupe, 1978?"…just thoughts. Overall, it was a beautiful performance! (p.s. I only took a video of the play which is too long to upload unfortunately).