V. Chicago Tribune
Karina Hurtado wanted to send a message
with "Shattered Reflections"; with "Bowdlerism,"
Jose Requera found comedy easier
to write than drama.
By Allan Johnson
Tribune staff reporter
January
23, 2005
In the play "Shattered Reflections," a young girl named Anita
is sexually assaulted by her uncle. Even more harrowing: The
one-act play ends with terrifying omens of future abuse. The
family of the playwright, 18-year-old Karina Hurtado, had
one obvious question for her after seeing this: "This is not
an autobiography, right? Hurtado said they asked her. "I had
to explain to them that it was just a message that I needed
to get out there," she said, emphasizing that "Shattered Reflections"
is not based on any incident in her life. The play is one
of four produced by Pegasus Players for its annual Young Playwrights
Festival, which takes works written by high school students
and stages them with professional actors, directors and crew.
"I encounter many girls who were either raped or molested
by a family member. So that's why I needed to get that message
out," said Hurtado, who was born in Mexico but has lived in
Chicago for eight years. Now a freshman at Wright College,
she entered the contest as a senior at Schurz High School.
"Shattered Reflections" is the most mature of the four winning
entries that were submitted last year. About 600 plays from
70 Chicago public high schools were narrowed down to four
during an intense six-month process of elimination, said Pegasus
Players artistic director Alex Levy.
Shattered expectations
There is little indication that someone "young" wrote any
of the pieces, as they each resist sinking to juvenile symbolism
to deftly and responsibly deal with issues such as family
strife, life choices, crisis and struggle.
In addition to "Shattered Reflections," there is "Grace,"
written by Imani Josey of Whitney Young Magnet High School,
with a headstrong teen's love for a troubled young man put
to the test; and "Waking Up," by Nikhar Ahmed of Northside
College Preparatory School, about a leukemia sufferer.
"I was expecting something more banal and not so concerned
with the issues of life and death and what are you going to
do with yourself and that kind of thing," said audience member
Melanie Jansen, 40, of Chicago.
Scene from Jose Requena's "Bowdlerism" produced by Pegasus Players.
Even "Bowdlerism," the most lighthearted of the four as the
story of a conflicted writer, has enough sophisticated comedy
that its writer, 18-year-old Jose Requena, should apply for
a writing position with Fox's frothy teen soap "The O.C."
Requena's main character, a writer pulled in several directions
while trying to come up with a story, was patterned on himself.
Pulling at him are archetypes of a fast-talking agent, an
audience member interested in style over substance, and a
harsh critic claiming to defend the "craft."
In spite of his clever script, Requena, who was born in Mexico
but has been a Chicagoan for almost 15 years, says that if
he could have, he would have done a serious story like the
others.
"I went through several ideas. And the first ones I had were
really down-to-earth, real-life issues," said Requena, a Whitney
Young graduate now attending the University of Illinois at
Chicago.
Humor comes easily
"I felt I couldn't really write those [subjects], because
they needed so much attention and needed to be done so well,
more than I could really handle," Requena said. "I just found
humor a lot easier to write."
Silvia Saucedo, Requena's mother, said she was "amazed" to
see her son's words fully realized by Pegasus Players.
"It just brought his writing to life, and it left me speechless,"
said Saucedo, 46.
Whether it's the comedy of "Bowdlerism" or the drama of "Shattered
Reflections," it's apparent that young people are expressing
themselves creatively in thoughtful and complex ways that
belie their years.
Scene from Karina Hurtado's
"Shettered Reflections"..
"It amazes me to think that they wrote these plays," said
Kristala Pouncy, 24, who plays Anita in "Reflections" and
the title character in "Grace." Pegasus' Alex Levy, who also
directed "Waking Up," wrote "a very simple little comedy"
about a couple on their first date that was produced for the
festival in 1994. He admits it was "nowhere near as complex
as some of the plays we're seeing now." "There's moments where
you go from adolescent to adult, and where you make decisions
and they affect the rest of your life," said Levy, 28. "Each
of these shows, in very different ways, takes us through that
process with these kids. And it's a very mature look at that."
The 19th annual Young Playwrights Festival is at 8 p.m. Friday
and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Chicago Cultural Center
Studio Theater, 77 E. Randolph St. Call 773-878-9761.