Traveling Troupe of Actors draws Spanish Student’s Attention

Good bilingual comedies and eye-catching plays are most difficult to find and understand sometimes, but the one at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, however, is not. The Spanish field trip, sponsored by Spanish teachers Carla Terry and Katie Moore, took 75 students to watch the Spanish play, “Don Quixote de la Mancha.” Terry and Moore told everyone that they do not need to understand everything in Spanish to enjoy the play.

“Don Quixote de la Mancha” is about a crazy guy named Don Quixote who is obsessed with the books he reads about knights and chivalry. Thinking that he is a knight, he sets out for adventure to defend the helpless and destroy the wicked with his trusty squire, Sancho. After several misunderstandings, everywhere Quixote goes, his mind does not process that what he believes in his heart from the books that he read are not real and that he is not a knight. At the same time, everyone else tries to bring him to reality.

What was interesting about the play is that the actors/actresses’ language was on point and successful in pulling the audience into the scenes where they could understand both Spanish and English. Because they spoke in Spanish in the beginning, the audience was lost and confused. But when the black and white light kept flickering rapidly multiple times after the casts were done talking. Actors/actresses move around while the lights go on and off for a few seconds. What I did not expect was that the casts rewind themselves like televisions and switch their language to English and start all over to the scene that was in Spanish which they did multiple times during the play.

The set was not what I expected it to be, as it was only one background. There was a see-through screen like God appears to my eyes, but not to the characters and with different props on stage. But the 20 different characters were played by the same seven actors/actresses was surprisingly hilarious and entertaining. Multiple disguises of the priest, invisible horses and characters singing, made the audience want to sing with them. Overall, it was fun and definitely memorable.

After watching a bilingual play, it was a pleasant performance and engaging experience with the characters. The storyline was fascinating and good-humored. One does not need to know the language; just let the characters and the play guide you. Never miss an opportunity to try and see new adventurous things. You never know when it will come again.