El Bolero Was My Downfall

Based on a short story by Manuel Ramos Otero
Music by
Desmar Guevara, Ricardo Pons & Jorge B. Merced
Adapted and Directed by Jorge B. Merced
Performed in Spanish & English with bilingual supertitles

CAST
Chad Carstarphen, Gabriel Hernández, Cedric Leiba Jr., Jorge B. Merced, Marcos Torres, Gabriel Lugo, Desmar Guevara

TEAM
Set Design by Chris Cancel Pomales
Costume Design by Harry Nadal
Lighting Design by Lucrecia Briceño
Projections by Melisa Ramos
Associate Production Manager Jessica Moya
Stage Manager Cristina Ayón Viesca
Photography by Marisol Díaz
Translations Jorge B. Merced

ABOUT

Days before leaving jail, LOCA LA DE LA LOCURA, nightclub entertainer and self-fashioned femme fatale, recounts a life of travestismo and the terrible turn that landed her in prison. A tribute to a great Puerto Rican writer, drenched in sequin, song, and the irreverence of survival.

The production explores the legacy of queer Puerto Rican literary icon Manuel Ramos Otero (b. 1948 – d. 1990), and is adapted for the stage from his celebrated Spanish language short story “Loca la de la locura.”

The 2017 version celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the production with a new English translation, an expanded cast, new and unplugged torch songs, and an entirely additional set of audiovisual elements.

The play’s protagonist is a nightclub entertainer and self-fashioned femme fatale serving the last days of a long prison sentence. She is also a man, matter-of-factly recounting a lifetime of travestismo and the passions that end up in murder.

Since its Spanish language premiere in 1997, El Bolero has had more than 100 performances in 5 different countries and triggered dozens of critical dialogues around the subjects of colonialism, migration, queer identities, and becoming political.