Last weekend, we were pleasantly surprised to find that one of the audience members that day, Roberto Reyes, had come because he is in town for 3 months, and had heard that a production of Elena's work was being done here. He is friends with Elena in Mexico City. Here are his thoughts:

Coming to Chicago and finding out that there are lots of different plays during the year, including Broadway and Off Broadway shows and more than 200 independent companies, was a great; finding out that there’s an annual festival called the Alcyone Festival that since 2008 has dedicated its performances to different topics, including this year’s selection of Mexican plays translated to English, was a very nice experience; but realizing that the best play that I’ve seen since I came to Chicago 2 months ago is a play by a Mexican playwright and directed by a Mexican living in the city was really overwhelming.

I’m talking about A Lover’s Dismantling: Fragments of a Scenic Discourse, written by Elena Guiochins and directed by Alex Gualino, one of the 4 Mexican plays presented this year as part of The Alcyone Festival.

The universal topics about couples and love, combined with an impeccable script as well as the way that the director knew how to communicate to the actors the feeling of contemporary Mexico City, made this performance something worthy of being watched.

For some moments I forgot I was watching a play in English, and I felt like home. Despite the young ages of the actors, they manage to give the mid-30’s characters the ideal strength. Their energy on stage and the simple and neat set design and direction makes this play recommended and proves, once more, that for making good theater, a big production is not necessary- just a good script, neat acting and the director’s comprehension of the playwright feeling.

Roberto Garcia Reyes