2017 FIESTA MELODRAMA
A broke Santa Fe focus of satire
This year’s annual Fiesta Melodrama shows the City Different as a city defunded, with local government being run out of a nightclub.
In the 98th lampooning of city, state and national news and events, Santa Fe’s status as a sanctuary city — or “Sanguichary City” in the show — has left it with no federal support. That problem, mixed with doings by local and state leaders, forces the city to sell off all of its buildings. Local government — “fake government,” as the melodrama’s U.S. president calls it — the schools and other organizations are being operated out of the “Rio Drama” dance hall and bar.
“There isn’t any money,” said co-director and Santa Fe Playhouse artistic director Vaughn Irving of the show’s main theme. “Part of that is the nature of Santa Fe, part of it is scandal, and part of it is the governor just randomly defunding things she doesn’t like.”
Since the melodrama always takes place 100 years in the past, Irving said, the elimination of Santa Fe’s federal funding is mandated by President Woodrow Wilson.
In contrast to the 2016 show’s Donald Harumph character, Irving said the group wanted to have a less-obvious Trumpian reference for the current show. But the troupe is not ignoring the current president; every time Wilson’s name is mentioned, the cast gives the audience a wink. A state communication’s director character has definite Sean Spicer parallels.
The city is being monitored by one of President Wilson’s henchmen, assistant attorney general of cultural affairs Boris Kofveve, who has a thick Russian accent and a name a few letters away from Trump’s infamous Twitter typo.
“He wants to do one thing, and that’s ruin Santa Fe,” said Jerry Ferraccio, who plays Kofveve in the show. He said the character seduces women in power to try to bring down the city. The melodrama’s Gov. “Boozanna Martinis” spoofs the legal controversy over Gov. Susana Martinez’s real-life 2017 vetoes. Her frivolous defundings are a partial reason for Santa Fe’s financial demise.
“She doesn’t come to see the
show very often,” Irving said of the real governor.
Other topics getting the Melodrama treatment are Mayor Javier Gonzales’ failed soda tax — here, a tortilla tax — former secretary of state Dianna Duran’s guilty pleas in 2015 for using campaign funds for gambling debts and Phil Griego, a former state senator facing fraud charges.
City Councilor Linda Villa-Mall and Dudley Brewright, an illegal immigrant from Canada and beer brewer, try to stop Kofveve. The idea of playing Brewright, a hero who is not fully aware of Santa Fe’s government and scandals, is fitting for actor Evan Dallzel — he moved here only about two months ago from New York City. He said he has learned the meaning of some of the jokes as he went along with the show.
Dallzel describes his character as a “naive do-gooder.” He’s not as bright as his female counterpart, an intentional gender-flip on the stereotypical heroheroine relationship in melodramas. “True to his upbringing as a Canadian, (Brewright tries) to save the day by being over-polite,” Dallzel said.
There’s more emphasis on national news this year and Irving said the melodrama players would not be “doing their job correctly” if they didn’t tap into what’s going on around the country. “We didn’t really have an option,”
he added.
“National politics are local politics right now,” he said. “It’s everywhere and it’s touching everyone’s lives.”
Besides those already mentioned, the show stars Libby King as the governor, Isabel Madley as Councilor Villa-Mall and Mark Westberg as state communications director Don Geiser. The show’s other actors include Felix Cordova, Katie Johnson, Luca Pacheo, Tallis Rose, Cliff Russell, Sarah Spickard and Lulu Sulich. Irving’s co-director is local musician Andrew Primm.
“A Down Home Dance Hall Drama, or Sister, Can You Spare a Sanguich? or A Very Kofveve Council Conspiracy” runs Thursdays through Sundays until Sept. 10, with no Sept. 1 show due to the burning of Zozobra. An adults-only show is Sept. 2 at 10 p.m.