Modern Prodcution

 

Before I go any further into productions of this play, I must go back and give little information of this magnificent playwright. She is, in fact, the sole reasoning for some of the choices in modern productions today. A feminist during a time when it was unheard of, she took this and used it to portray many revolts against male dominance through mainly female characters. She struggled as an individual to retain her sense of creative fulfillment against preconceived roles in society.  She taught herself since the age of three and continued to prove herself independent without a bias on what she consumed for her education. Once she had reached a point where she could no longer advance, she became a nun. There she attained a connection with god and used her unique perspective in her writings. 

The first productions were held on religious festivals (Corpus Christi), specifically set during the parades of such events. Wooden floats or carts were made to function as the stage, while church officials and kings occupied a section of that platform as their separation from the audience. Two carts came together on either side of the platform and usually had a structure on it with two levels, an upper and lower level. Other aspects of the stage included a painted baseboard, canvas on the stage floor for actors to walk on, and "balustrade," extra stage space. 

Various indigenousness dances were also highlighted for the natives while it also pulls myths found in Spanish autosacramentales. This merging of native and Spanish culture also brings me to the costumes, which were native in origin. Thee outfits were flamboyant, colorful, ands good out at performances, making them hard to ignore. This could also be seen as the craziness of native outfits in connection with conversion to christianity. 

For modern day productions there are few and far between. Most performances are still done in Spanish speaking countries with a band. The stages are bare, the costumes still resemble that of native ancestors, and a band provides musical accompaniment right behind the actors. Not too different from how it was done back then. 

A recent show put on by Paper Chairs and adapted by Elizabeth Doss features a more modern and American take on the LOA. The stage is set outdoors on a bare wooden stage with its only source of light being gaslit lanterns. The only part of the scenery that is not bare is the decorative back wall which features a variety of gray and white ruffled fabrics. The actors wear various forms of white tops and all but one wear blue jeans. These actors also brandish medium sized name tags, displaying their character names, around their necks like necklaces. The main character wears a full white gown, that is modest in its construction, making it apparent that the lead is female. 

The connections that LOA makes to modern day playwrights is through her views of society. She was a feminist before the term was invented, she championed for women in the theatre and took to being as independent as she could when it came to her life. And Elizabeth Doss's choice of the white gown for the lead character is a nod to the author's original intention's for the play. 

Productions

The Physical World of Loa to the Divine Narcissus

 

The stage design in Loa to the Divine Narcissus falls in line with what was standard during the early days of the Spanish Golden Age of Theatre. As things were rapidly evolving, many theatrical advancements were taking place at the time. One thing we know for sure, however, is that this play would have taken place on top of carros, which were tall wagons where mobile performances took place. The plays done on carros were always religious pieces, as they were mostly performed during parades held for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Because of this, sets had to be fairly small and easy to set up and take down. Luckily, Loa to the Divine Narcissus does not rely much on set design to tell its story. Most of the action takes place in one spot, so the carros would likely only need to hold one or two display pieces, likely hinged to display from the top platform.

The structure of the carros, which held everything

from set pieces, dressing rooms, and machinery

Where Loa of the Divine Narcissus shines is the extravagance of its costumes. During the Spanish Golden Age of Theatre, costumes were sometimes supplied by the cities, but often actors would have to spend parts of their own paycheck to assemble costumes. These costumes were also always contemporary, regardless of the time period of the play or the status of the characters. Spanish costumes of the time share many similarities with English renaissance costuming, where all of the outfits were generally lavish, and characters of high status or fame even more so. Women in the theatre had their own restrictions, like being restricted from wearing short or wide-hooped skirts, pants of any kind, or 'strange headdresses'. The outfits for this play would obviously follow suit, but with some noticeable accessories and changes. Occident is mentioned as entering with crown, and Zeal and his soldiers are dressed mainly in armor, swords, and roughly military uniforms that were standard for the time. Oddly enough, while America would be one of the roles that would be ideal for women at the time, she is written to enter with a "richly embroidered cloth and headdress," which would most likely fall under the 'strange headdresses' restriction women had. Religion, on the other hand, would wear fanciful women's dresses that could be suitable for actresses of the period.

Costumes used during the Spanish Golden Age of Theatre.

Religion would likely look like the woman pictured.

The movement of Loa to the Divine Narcissus would be fairly simple, as there isn't much spectacle to be had from a loa piece in the first place. Most of the motion is moving across the stage to signify a chase occurring, which just involve the soldiers and other characters moving from one door through the other. This would be incredibly easy given the layout of the carros, as either door would just lead to backstage. To finish it off, the props used during the play are also described well in the script, and would not prove to be too hard to acquire or find for performances. The props mostly consist of a sword for Zeal and other weaponry for the soldiers, various feathers, shells, and instruments for use by Music, and drums and bugles for when the soldiers attack. Other optional props could include religious text for Religion, or idolic figures for Occident and America. Regardless, these are all easily obtainable even for low-budget actors and actresses of the time. 

Script Analysis

 

Script Analysis of the Loa to The Divine Narcissus

    The Divine Narcissus is an auto sacramental, a type of religious play native to Spain, written by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz; the play reframes the Greek mythological story of Narcissus and Echo to be a Christian one, where Narcissus takes on the role of Jesus and Christ and Echo the role of Satan (Kellman, eNotes). Its loa, a type of short performance that often preceded longer plays, does not share any part of The Divine Narcissus’s plot or premise. Rather, it concerns the dynamics between the early imperial Spain and the Aztec Empire they went on to conquer in the 16th century, as represented by the allegorical characters Occident, America, Music, Religion, and Zeal. The loa has five scenes in one act, and the action takes place over a period of time no longer than the performance would last, so it would fit into the Neoclassical ideal of Unity of Time. It has only one plotline, so it also follows the ideal of Unity of Action. The setting, like the characters, is allegorical--in fact, the characters Occident and America act both as characters and place, as "occident" refers to the West, and "America" specifically the Americas.

The Plot

Occident and America, acting as leaders of the Aztec Empire, are celebrating the Festival for Huitzilopochtli, referred to in the loa as the God of Seeds; for context, one of the activities of this festival is to sacrifice a person, mix their blood with seeds and grains, use that mixture to form an idol of the God of Seeds, and then eat that idol. Meanwhile, Religion and Zeal and their soldiers prepare to convert the Aztec Empire over to Christianity through any means necessary, hence the soldiers. They come in and interrupt Occident and America’s festival and confront them over their idolatrous worship. After sending bombs and gunfire to the Aztec land in the face of their refusal to convert, Zeal goes to kill America, but Religion objects. As the gunfire continues, Religion takes to explaining the Christian religion to Occident and America (who she seemingly refers to as “blind idolatry” on occasion) and its core tenets, and she gradually (but very quickly) wins them over. At the end of the play, she states that after Occident and America have been baptized, Religion will write a play, specifically the following play, The Divine Narcissus, to be performed all around the world so that other “Gentile people” may hear the good word of Christ, as well, and convert to Christianity.

The Big Ideas

The first main idea that Sor Juana explicitly puts forth in this loa is the juxtaposition of violence and conquest to peace and conversation, as represented by the differences the characters Religion and Zeal take in their approach to converting the “idolatrous” Aztecs. Whereas Zeal will take any opportunity to “punish” and “chastise” non-believers when faced with even the smallest amount of resistance to Religion’s gentler approach, Religion believes such violence to be completely unnecessary, and will steadfastly continue her approach until she has convinced the non-believers.

The second main idea is the comparisons between the Aztec Empire and the Spanish Empire’s violence. Just as the human sacrificial elements of the Aztecs are condemned as primitive, idolatrous and barbaric, the Spanish Zeal’s aggression towards dissenters is portrayed as overzealous (heh) and ultimately unnecessary. In this sense, Sor Juana seems to criticize the Spanish empire’s violent conquests as being no less barbaric than human sacrifice.

The Littler Ideas

Reading this loa through a North American 21st century lens, there is clear subtext regarding the less openly admitted motivations for Spain’s conquest of the Americas, which the themes of religious conversion in this play seem to be a metaphor for. This is first hinted at by the character America in her and Occident’s opening ceremony for the festival, wherein she mentions her gold-rich mines, and the reluctance to extract too much from them in the fear that the “miasma” from the mines may render their fertile croplands infertile and barren; the specific quote is, “knowing that this is true, that [the God of Seed’s] benevolence watches over us, his children, why would we care that our mines, a bounty of gold, make rich America richer, if the miasma from those mines turns fields barren, the fertile land sown with seeds that once bloomed into fruit, made desolate, a wasteland?” With this, America deems it blasphemous and disrespectful to the God of Seeds to engage in anything that may render his blessing useless, as his boon “preserves the life that it makes possible,” even if those other ventures may provide different benefits. 

With the rest of Occident and America’s pre-Christian beliefs being portrayed and discussed as primitive and naive, this inconsideration to this kind of material wealth on their part is also portrayed as primitive and naive. Furthermore, Occident proclaims the Christian God as “the true God of Seeds,” thus overriding Huitzilopochtli’s divine power, and with Religion having described the Christian God as being all-loving, with his only condition for his love being believing in him, and all-powerful, it is implied that Christians don’t necessarily need to do anything to ensure disaster won’t strike them; as long as they revere the Holy Trinity and behave accordingly, God will take care of them—so, if they wanted to mine that gold mine, they don’t need to worry about their “plants” or whatever dying, because God will ensure that doesn’t happen. Thus introduces a justification for the Spaniards’ known lust for Aztec gold, and a further incentive to the Aztecs to convert—the Spaniards are going to mine their gold, but as long as the Aztec believe in the correct deity, harm won’t befall them.  

This then ties into the other subtextual idea that is colonialism and imperialism. While the use of the word “primitive” to describe Aztec beliefs and culture seems to be neutral, as even America uses it to describe their religious rituals in a way that is synonymous with “original” or “true,” the Aztecs are, nonetheless, portrayed as being much more primitive than the colonizing Spaniards, with the Aztecs only having arrows as defense against the Spanish soldiers’ guns and cannons.

What Makes It Different

Like much other Spanish drama of the time, the Loa to The Divine Narcissus concerns allegorical Christian tales, specifically the idea of the Eucharist. This loa, though, is notable in its sympathy towards indigenous Americans, as well as its seemingly proto-feminist ideals.

As stated under the “Big Ideas” section, the violence of the Spanish conquistadors is criticized in this play as ineffectual and cruel, which then seems to criticize the Spanish empire as cruel, in itself; the only things preventing this loa from being completely treacherous towards Spain is its promotion of Spanish Christianity and its portrayal of Spain as being much more advanced than the Aztec Empire. Further, the way in which the character Religion wins Occident and America over to Christianity is by finding commonalities in their ways of worships and by treating them with a certain level of respect—she assures them that their worship is not wrong, but misdirected, and draws similarities between Christian baptism and the washing ritual Aztec priests perform before religious ceremonies. With this, Sor Juana aims not only to appeal to native Aztecs to convert, but to Spanish colonizers to treat the native population with some level of respect.

Moreover, this loa contains the proto-feminist ideas commonly associated with Sor Juana and her work. It features two female characters, America and Religion, both of whom are given large roles in the story and are treated as being equal to their male counterparts/husbands, Occident and Zeal, respectfully. Further, with the feminine Religion being the one to convert the natives and save the day, Sor Juana is challenging the notion at the time that women couldn’t understand religion as well as men could.

Works Cited besides the loa

"The Divine Narcissus - Summary" Masterpieces of World Literature, Critical Edition Ed. Steven G.     Kellman. eNotes.com, Inc. 2009 eNotes.com 9 Nov. 2021 <https://www.enotes.com/topics/divine-    narcissus#summary-the-work>

Character Insights

The Characters 

Music - 

"...in festive pageantry come worship and revere the great God of Seeds!"  

Sets up the tocotin,  a traditional dance performed by the Aztecs set to music. Mainly part of a sacred hymn, developed by the tribal population to commemorate the gods(Ometeotl, Tlaloc, Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca). Storytelling + (adoration + devotion) = total praise to the gods in return by asking for providing wealth and prosperity to all. Provides the spiritual exposition as to why he and his fellow tribesmen are celebrating such an occasion. 

As musicians, the roles they played in the Aztec empire was nothing short of essential. It was used for just about every reason in daily life and recreation from celebration to ceremony, along with providing an emotional environment (vibe) to all those involved. Due to Mesoamerican polytheism, they put massive emphasis on the spirt world while reciting the sacred hymn, with participants becoming absorbed by the music and dancing for several minutes, even hours. This method was used to maintain connection with their ancestry and faith. The instruments used in these hymns include the typical drum, which were made from animal skin and tree bark found in the area.

America - 

"...for although I, a captive, weep for my liberty, my free will with even greater liberty still will worship my deities!"

Wife of Occident, she is the main feminine 'protagonist' who strongly resists the character Religion's proposition of teaching her and her tribe Catholic/Christian scripture. This was written directly involving Sor Juana's feminist rhetoric. Borrowing from the spirit of German canoness Hrosvitha, Sor Juana writes her version of the Aztec woman as fiercely adamant and unsusceptible to the incoming colonizers as she refuses to give up her entire heritage and ethnic inheritance to Western intrusion of faith and power. 

Occident - 

"Now your valor must conquer me for I stand firm against mere words."

Husband of America, this character acts as Sor Juana's interpretation of the majority of indigenous populations approached their Western visitors with either contempt or curiosity. Passive-aggressive, albeit proud, he works in concert with his wife in adhering to their worship of the Aztec 'God of Seeds'. Strong-willed, but unlike his wife, is vulnerable to doubt and fear when he encounters Zeal and his wife. Displays his brevity and valor when the Spanish 'Soldiers' attack in Scene II. Starts to grow curious over Religion's demonstration of faith, and eventually "gives in" to practice.

Sor Juana wrote this character with the concept of the predominant male influence in Pre-Columbian America and Mesoamerica. In keeping with terminology within the allegory, she decided to name this character after the Latin occidere into occident, meaning "going down, setting", which was transcribed from Old French into late Middle English. Unlike his male, Spaniard counterpart (Zeal), Sor Juana wrote Occident as having duality with his wife in both love and faith for the Aztec worship.

Zeal - 

I am Zeal...Withdraw, my lady, to one side while I claim your rightful vengeance. 

This character acts as an allegory of how the Spanish conquistadors interacted with indigenous societies. Instead of coming on first, his "wife" Religion provides his exposition straightly by saying "You are Zeal, and being Zeal how can your Christian fury bear to see idolatry, false and blind, celebrate with superstitious cults an idol..." Thinks highly of his wife, sees any disrespect towards her and her practice (of faith) as an insult and quickly stands up to defend her. Aggressive and delusional. 

This character can be debated as having qualities reminiscent of the classic stock character known as 'Il Capitano', who like Zeal, is braggart but with a sociopathic quality mixed right in. It can be theorized that Sor Juana used these concepts in writing the character in an attempt to exploit the Spanish colonizers and military leaders for having such a total disregard towards indigenous life. 

Religion - 

"I am the Christian Religion, and I shall endeavor to turn your provinces to my worship."

This particular character can be considered to be the most influential as the majority of morality/allegory plays such as the loa, including the auto sacramentales (the most popular form of religious drama in Golden Age Spain). This allegory was inspired by Sor Juana's life as a nun in Mexico City. While residing, she made sure to compose works that had orthodox leveled rhetoric, but was never hesitant in resorting to . The character's allegorical state is introduced during her conversation with her aggressive husband, 'Zeal'.

Compared to some characters written throughout the genre, this particular character is notable in that she provides the central religious theme that helps provide the overall message of the story. This can be see in almost every morality play in Western theatre in that it had an archetypal element in Christian values and morals, hence the titular genre. Sor Juana, while strong in orthodox, was attempting to portray the peaceful process of conversion to Western Christianity, but not without consequences. Implicitly, this was her idea of applying subtext stating that the Spaniards were using religion as a form of intimidation and control, which is something she was completely against in her life. In the genre, Sor Juana probably wrote this character with three main influences in mind: first, there was 'Good Deeds' and 'Confession', used as both the moral and religious backbone in this work (respectively). Next, it might be discussed that she used the 'Red Cross Knight' ('The Faerie Queen') as an influence in that it was written to portray the virtue of holiness in life. 

Soldiers - Spanish armed forces who praise.

"Long live Spain! And long live her king!"