Monkey Business Theatre

Contents

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pp. vii-viii

Foreword. The Visitors’ Question

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pp. ix-xx

For fifteen years, most of my opportunities to see the plays of the Monkey Business Theatre, Teatro Lo’il Maxil, have come about through the happy coincidence of being where the company was performing at the right moment. As a friend of cofounder Robert M. Laughlin and several of the original actors, I have always kept an eye on the performance’s effect on the spectators, whether the show is Torches for a New Dawn presented in the plaza...

Preface. Recollections of a Ghost

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pp. xxi-xxvi

One January morning in 1989, I found myself in a clearing surrounded by scrubby woods on the outskirts of the old provincial capital of Chiapas, San Crist�bal de las Casas. I was guiding a group of somewhat bewildered Mayan Indians through a series of physical and vocal warm-ups designed for actor training. The situation was probably as unlikely for them as it was for me. They responded dutifully but with little display...

Acknowledgments

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pp. xxvii-xxxiii

A great host of people, many known and many more unknown, have given life and substance to the Monkey Business Theatre, Teatro Lo’il Maxil, projecting The first word of thanks should go to Karen Bassie, who reformatted this text and undid in the play scripts Word’s magical trick of turning all italics into regular print and all regular ...

Pronunciation and Translation

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pp. xxxiv-xxxv

Tzotzil and Tzeltal vowels are as in Spanish, as is the j. X is as sh. An apostrophe between vowels is a glottal stop as in the modern pronunciation of “uh-oh,” Jewish Brooklynese “bottle,” and “Hawaii.” Consonants followed by an A word on the translations: I had suggested that a good first play could be based on “The Buzzard Man” tales (t42, t43, t48 and t69) I had translated ...

1. Looking Back, Looking Forward: In the Beginning

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pp. 1-8

When I first landed in the colonial city of San Crist�bal de las Casas, Chiapas, in 1957 as a graduate student in anthropology at the Escuela Nacional de Antropolog�a e Historia in Mexico City, I never dreamt I would spend the rest of my life exploring Tzotzil Mayan culture. Transferring to Harvard University, I began my fieldwork in Zinacant�n, accompanied by my wife, Mimi. The first task was to learn Tzotzil. We became ...

2. Febrero Loco: A Live Theatre in the Making

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pp. 9-16

In 1989, we brought Ralph Lee from New York City to Chiapas. “. . . [A]s artistic director of the Mettawee River Company, which performs as an itinerant troupe in rural upstate New York and New England during the summer, [Ralph] had for years peopled the stage with spirits, gods, and demons from around the Greenwich Village’s famous Halloween parade, he had filled the streets with giant masks and puppets. What magical figures would he...

3. The Theatre on the Road: The Great Adventure

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pp. 17-22

When the actors of the Teatro Lo’il Maxil puppet theatre first ventured to distant hamlets, carrying the wooden curtain frame on their backs or on muleback, it seemed a great adventure. It was less so when they graduated to buses, and the bus drivers refused to transport the boards without a hefty tip. Shifting to light metal poles solved the problem. The theatre tours sometimes had an extraordinary...

4. Personal and Social Impacts

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pp. 23-32

In 1992 the state of chiapas gave scholarships to two young men to join the cast and learn from us. From far away Cancuc, they were considered by Zinacantecs to be “forest animals.” The first day the men watched our bizarre exercises intently. Then, the second day, they added their own playfulness with an abandon no one could believe. Although unrelated, Petul and Xun 2 looked almost identical, and soon we were calling both of...

5. The Immokalee Special: Social Action in Florida

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pp. 33-40

In 1994 Allan Burns, a professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, arranged with Laura Germino of Guadalupe Social Services and with Greg Absted and Lucas Ben�tez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers a trip to Immokalee in the Everglades, where five thousand Mayan and Haitian workers pick tomatoes, chile peppers, and oranges. The recently formed coalition was confronting the abuses inflicted on these immigrant ...

6. The Future

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pp. 41-42

For the Mayas time is thought to be cyclical. The future repeats and develops from the past. Just so, Mayan myths repeat old truths, but adapt them constantly to the present situation. The same is true of the Monkey Business Theatre. Currently, the major support for the cooperative is from the State of Chiapas and Oxfam International. We were concerned that government involvement might threaten the cooperative’s...

THE PLAYS

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pp. 43-44

The Loafer and the Buzzard

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pp. 45-58

Four first play I suggested a folktale I had collected (Laughlin1977) that was widely known in Mexico and Guatemala. Versions of what I call here The Loafer and the Buzzard (El harag�n y el zopilote) had been recorded among the Yaqui of Sonora; Tlapanec of Guerrero; Mixtec of Oaxaca; Tzotzil of Chamula, Chenalh�, and Zinacant�n; and among the Awakatek...

Who Believes in Spooks?

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pp. 59-74

Who believes in spooks? (�A poco hay cimarrones?) was created by the group to dramatize a local belief among the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya. Mothers warn their children to come inside at dusk lest they be carried off by a bat-like boogeyman, a spook. When the corn boils over and makes the fire hiss, it is thought to be a sign that a spook is about to pay a visit. In addition, spooks are ...

Deadly Inheritance

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pp. 75-98

Tziak informed us that he would like a different kind of play this year, not based on myths, but on gossip. He recounted a recent case of murder in his town, Tenejapa, where two brothers, after their father died, murdered their two sisters to appropriate their land. For those who romanticize Mayan culture and, particularly, Mayan family life, this play will be a surprise, for it revolves around one of the most feared ...

Jaguar Dynasty

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pp. 99-120

Jaguar dynasty (Dinast�a de los jaguares) was crafted by our translator, Palas, who after searching in the historical sources called up the Spanish conquest of Chiapa de Corzo. This town, after which the state is named in part, is situated on the Grijalva River. Dating back to before the Christian era, this non-Mayan town was the most powerful force in the Lowlands. At the time of the ...

Let’s Go to Paradise!

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pp. 121-148

The idea for Let’s Go to Paradise! (¡Vámonos al paraíso!) was born in 1992 as the theatre group was returning by bus from Honduras. As we passed by many coffee fincas in the Soconusco region of southwestern Chiapas, suddenly Maryan pointed to a sign at a finca entrance. “I worked there!” he exclaimed. As he began to recall his suffering while working as a coffee picker, I suggested ...

From All for All

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pp. 149-172

For the first time, not a single word had been written upon Ralph’s arrival. Andrés Fábregas Puig, director of the Instituto Chiapaneco de Cultura, suggested we touch on the present situation: the overrunning of four towns, including San Cristóbal de las Casas, on New Year’s Day 1994 by the ezln, the Zapatista National Liberation Army. Protesting the disastrous effect of ...

Torches for a New Dawn

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pp. 173-196

Torches for a new dawn (Antorchas para el amanecer) focuses on the necessity of replacing the current disastrous education system with a truly bilingual model, staffed by Mayas who respect their culture. Indians make up twelve percent of Mexico’s population, and they speak one or more of fifty-six languages that the general public refers to as dialectos. In fact, many of these ...

The Story of Our Roots

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pp. 197-224

The story of our roots (El cuento de nuestras raices) is based on the play Christ I Never Knew You! which I wrote many years ago, drawing on a folktale that Xun’s uncle, Matyo Tanchak, told me. This play was accepted by Luis Valdez’s Teatro Campesino in California, but never performed. Year after year I suggested that it might be a good project for our theatre, but my suggested...

Workers in the Other World

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pp. 225-246

Workers in the other world (Trabajadores en el otro mundo) is a revision of Don Tomate y sus coyotes, which was created the previous year in Immokalee, Florida. With raucously grim humor this play charts the travels of a pair of poor Chamulans who go to the border only to be tricked by the coyote. After they finally cross the border, they are driven across the country, packed in a ...

When Corn Was Born

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pp. 247-260

When corn was born (Cuando nació el maíz) is a creation myth from Tenejapa, with similarities to other such myths throughout the Mayan world. The gods are unhappy that men and women happily crunching soft, edible pebbles, have forgotten them and are leading sinful lives. So with the aid of ants, they steal the Earth Lord’s corn. Finally, the Earth Lord, in his rich Ladino aspect, ...

Mexico with Us Forever!

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pp. 261-280

The title Mexico with Us Forever! (¡Siempre México con nosotros!) was chosen to give a positive swing to the Zapatistas’ cry, “¡Jamás México sin nosotros!” (Never again Mexico without us!). This play, under the guidance of Michael Garcés, then producing artistic director of INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center of New York City, shows how political corruption, including the buying of votes, ...

The World Turned on Its Head

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pp. 281-329

The world turned on its head (El planeta de cabeza), unlike the previous plays that were written collaboratively by the members of Sna, is the work of Rogelio Román Hernández de la Cruz, Petu’s son, who wrote it when he was eighteen. Because this play was to be performed on Valentine’s Day 2003 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City to accompany the presentation of my ...

Appendix 1. Individuals Referred to in the Text

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p. 293-293

Appendix 2. Members and Former Members of Sna Jtz’ibajom

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pp. 294-295

Appendix 3. Length of Service

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p. 296-296

Glossary

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pp. 297-298

Bibliography

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pp. 299-308

Index

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pp. 309-315