‘El Corrido de Jorge’ inspired by writer’s father
Life events can often be the point of inspiration for cultivating ideas.
Of course with a little fiction, it amps up the drama factor.
Patricia Crespin took the stories of her father growing up on a farm and that became the impetus behind her writing “El Corrido de Jorge.”
The play will be staged in the Wells Fargo Auditorium at the National Hispanic Cultural Center beginning Thursday, Feb. 1.
“It’s been a journey for the play,” Crespin says. “I began writing it in 2009, and I tried to get it produced by a theater company since then. It fit with NHCC programming and the theater festival.”
“El Corrido de Jorge” focuses on Jorge, who follows his dream of being a singer.
He even writes his own songs. But when his father doesn’t return from a working trip to Mexico, Jorge is forced to put his dreams on hold and help his mother take care of the ranch and raise his younger siblings.
When his mother dies of malnutrition, Jorge makes a pact with himself to find his father, who he is convinced abandoned them, and kill him.
He arrives in Mexico, and with the help of a cranky bartender and a determined young Mexican woman, tracks down his father and quickly discovers that some things really are better left alone.
“It’s sort of an ode to my father, in terms of his upbringing and his life on the ranch,” she says. “It was a difficult experience for him. He had to take care of his family at a young age. Of course, there’s a little bit of made-up drama. This play is my way of honoring how he overcame so much and being so poor.” Writing the first draft came easily. Crespin had numerous sit-down conversations with her father and uncle about their lives.
After a few months of writing, she completed the first draft. The script then was selected by Teatro Nuevo Mexico and its reading series.
After the series, it was back to the writing table and the second draft was completed.
“It’s unusual for me to already be staging a show with the second draft,” she says. “I’ve had a strong vision of how it could be, and I’m working with amazing actors and the director sees my vision. As a writer, I tend to step back and see how others interpret the story. Being able to do that helps me see it from a different perspective.”