MACT

Written by Miguel Fiol
Directed by Joe Moses

The Chrysalis (a play in English) is a family drama set in 1990s Puerto Rico during the tumultuous AIDS epidemic. American pharmaceutical companies on the island were reaping tax-free profits by making life-saving AIDS medications that most Boricuas (Puerto Rican natives) could not afford. The father (Eduardo) has to weigh the advantages of working for the Americans against the costs to his family after Raul’s friend faces exile, conversion therapy, and fatal illness and everyone in the family has to face difficult questions at the very heart of their identities.

The youngest son, Raul, reveals plans to come out to his family on his 21st birthday until his late grandparents, both former activists for Puerto Rican independence, intervene.

The story traces family conflicts to Spanish colonialism, the enslavement of Ghanaians, religious influences, and American political and economic (sugar cane) power. The family struggles to understand what it means to stand up for who they are as Puerto Ricans until Raul’s brother Francisco risks everything to protect the family (the chrysalis) from a home-grown menace.

La Crisálida (obra en inglés) es un drama ambientado en el Puerto Rico de la década de 1990 y durante la tumultuosa epidemia de SIDA. Las compañías farmacéuticas estadounidenses en la isla están obteniendo ganancias libres de impuestos al fabricar medicamentos contra el SIDA y que la mayoría de los Boricuas (nativos puertorriqueños) no pueden pagar. El padre (Eduardo) tiene que sopesar las ventajas de trabajar para los estadounidenses con los costos para su familia después de que un amigo del hijo menor Raul (gay de closet) enfermo enfrenta el exilio, la terapia de conversión y una enfermedad mortal, y todos tienen que resolver preguntas difíciles en el corazón mismo de sus identidades.

El hijo menor, Raúl, revela sus planes de hablar con su familia en su cumpleaños número 21 hasta que intervienen sus difuntos abuelos, Guillermo y Serwa (Ghana), ambos ex activistas por la independencia de Puerto Rico y el control de las fincas de caña de azúcar por los americanos invasores desde1898. .

La historia rastrea los conflictos familiares hasta el colonialismo español, la esclavitud de los ghaneses, las influencias religiosas y el poder estadounidense. La familia lucha por entender lo que significa defender quiénes son como puertorriqueños hasta que Francisco, el hermano de Raúl, arriesga todo para proteger a la familia (la crisálida) de una amenaza local.

Miguel Fiol is a Puerto Rican playwright and activist who works on behalf of the Puerto Rican people on the island and in Minnesota. Miguel is the founder of The Fiol Family Foundation, which supports historical, cultural, and scientific activities to improve lives on the island and diaspora. Miguel makes several trips to Puerto Rico each year to deliver medical care and supplies in his native Ponce.

The Chrysalis has been recognized as a promising new work by the Miranda Family Foundation National Playwriting Competition in New York City and by Teatro del Pueblo in St. Paul.

Joe Moses helped usher The Chrysalis from Miguel’s initial novel translation into English in 2012, serving as editor, to the stage adaptation serving as dramaturg and development coordinator.