School of the Americas

I love the Public Theatre - I really can say that I have never been truly and absolutely disappointed with any of their productions. Each season they have such a great selection of shows and I'm bound to get excited about more than one of them. This season, the first show that popped into my head when I saw the list was School of the Americas - how exciting - a play written by the screenwriter of The Motorcycle Diaries, one of my all-time favorite films. I also love the lead actor, John Ortiz, who I admire so much for his role as Jesus in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot a few seasons ago at The Public (see, they can do no wrong). Needless to say, I'd been looking forward to this show for months.

And then the time came to finally go see it. I saw it about a week after it had opened - and inevitably saw and read some of the reviews - which I really need to stop doing. They were mediocre at best - and set my spirits a little lower for the show than I had hoped.

Anyway, the premise is about Che Guevara (a man I really admire - and no, not in the I want to buy a t-shirt with his face on it kind of way) in his last days in Bolivia - right before he reaches the end of his life. He's being held by CIA-operatives in a small run-down schoolhouse in a rural town in Boliva. We are introduced to a schoolteacher there, Julia, who we realize is obsessed with the idea of Che and will do everything she can to meet and talk to him while he is being held in her school. She convinces the soldiers to let her have a few minutes alone with Che - during which most of the play takes place. Their conversations focus on his life and his idea that he is a failed man, unable to help the world anymore. He still has a fighting spirit, and a hell of a lot of pride - but that doesn't stop us from seeing that he is really beaten down and has lost a lot of his spirit. They talk a great deal about idealogy and the way the world should be - all nice sentiments. But we know what happens. We know that Julia is in love with Che - she can't have him - but she can provide him some final solice while he is being held captive. In the end, he's taken down and murdered by the CIA operatives, right there in Bolivia. Julia seems completely devasated, all at once unable to go on. But then we see the fighting spirit come back alive in her - she talks of re-building her school and her town, making it better for her beloved neighbors and countrymen. That's what I love about the story of Che - no matter that we're seeing him in his last days, he still gives everyone he meets, or everyone who hears his story a little bit of the revolutionary spirit. The play was a bit disappointing - but even sitting here writing this I'm starting to realize that we're supposed to take a little bit of Che with us - and that's the whole point of re-telling his story.

It's worth going to see the show - John Ortiz is great as Che and if you are an Arrested Development fan, get this, Patricia Velasquez, who plays Marta on the show, stars as Julia - her first stage appearance. If you can't see the show - watch the Motorcyle Diaries - or just go to wikipedia or something and learn a little more about Che Guevera - he really is an inspiration, especially in our political world today.