It is fitting that to round out the 25th year of performances at Teatro Milagro (Miracle Theater) that the theater would choose The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa as the capstone for the ‘08 - ‘09 season. Written in 1964 by Luis Valdez, this surreal, farcical Villa was one of the first agitprop plays to peel apart the experiences of Chicanos living in the U.S., as well as being a catalyst for the formation of an L.A.-based theater, El Teatro Campensino (The Theater of the Farm Worker). This vibrant performance house helped inspire dozens of Hispanic playwrights and actors, as well as setting the spark that would result in the founding of this Portland-based theater in 1984. Teatro Milagro is familiar with Villa, as well, having staged it in the theater’s infancy, in 1990.

This affinity with both the play and its legacy helped spark an air of excitement for its return to the cozy confines of Milagro, one that quite obviously infecting the actors as they threw their collective all into this off-kilter look at Chicano stereotypes and cultural assimilation.

The play concerns a Hispanic family living in Los Angeles in the ’60s that, in Valdez’s hands, represents the typecasting of the day (Dad is lazy alcoholic, son Joaquin is a juvenile delinquent, the whole family on welfare) taken to outlandish extremes. The capper, though, is eldest son, Belarmino (played with comic aplomb by Vincente Guzmán-Orozco) who is totally dependent on his family due to the fact that he is nothing more than a head.

This unusual, but relatively stable household is upended by the return of Mingo (Danny Moreno), an ex-G.I. who immediately sets about trying to “normalize” his family within American culture. What follows is an exploration of extremes - erasing one’s ethnicity completely for the sake of assimilation or defiantly embracing your roots - spurred on by Mingo’s ridiculous posturing and Belarmino’s claims that he is, in fact, Pancho Villa.

While Villa lays out its themes in rather broad strokes, the actors on the whole responded admirably by underplaying their parts. As the parents, Jose Gonzalez and Bunnie Rivera - both veteran actors who worked on the 1990 production - especially stood out, balancing the undertone of social commentary with the play’s more ridiculous elements nicely.

Performances are at the Milagro Theatre (525 SE Stark St., Portland).

Tags: Portland, Review, Teatro Milagro, Theater

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