LLT season finale
“The Clean House,” written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Russell Mack, continues at Lakeside Little Theatre, Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1.
Part telenovela, part fantasy, part social commentary, this tender comedy tackles love, life and death with audacious humor. A serious career-oriented doctor, Lane, has hired a quirky Brazilian maid. The only problem is that the maid, Matilde, hates to clean. Instead, she longs to be a comedienne. Lane is deserted by her husband, Charles, who leaves her for his mistress, Ana, a passionate, older Brazilian woman upon whom he recently performed a mastectomy.
Ruhl’s enchanting play reminds us that there is humor and beauty to be found in life’s most unlikely messes.
The cast is Amaranta Santos, Patteye Simpson, Candace Luciano, Peter Luciano and Tracy Foy.
Sunday’s show is a matinee, 3 p.m., and the evening shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, 250 pesos, are available at LLT’s box office, 10 a.m. to noon, every Wednesday and Thursday and one hour before curtain. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (376) 766-0954.
Naked Stage
The Naked Stage Readers’ Theatre will present “The Quality of Life,” directed by Alicia Madrid, Friday to Sunday, March 30-April 1.
The cast is comprised of Ken Yakiwchuk, Diana Rowland, Damyn Young and Jayme Littlejohn.
In this dramatic comedy, playwright Jane Anderson explores a myriad of ethical, religious, and moral beliefs, as well as personal rights issues concerning life and death. This remarkable and completely engrossing play won the 2008 Ovation Award for Best Play. It is filled with compassion, honesty and humor.
Cost is 100 pesos. The box office and bar open 3 p.m.; all shows are at 4 p.m. Reservations at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The Naked Stage is on the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar, across from the Catholic church and in front of the Baptist church. Parking is available in the parking lot of the Baptist church.
ASA
Ceramic artist Juan Soto will be the speaker at the next meeting of the Ajijic Society of the Arts (ASA), Monday, April 2 at La Bodega Ajijic. Coffee is on at 9:30 a.m.; the meeting begins 10 a.m. and the programed speaker is at 10:30 a.m.
Keen on art since his childhood, Soto graduated from the Universidad de Guadalajara as an industrial and graphic arts designer and worked in that field for eight years. While looking for a way to express his artistic yearnings, he found Tlaquepaque and Tonala particularly interesting because of their terracotta work. He frequented both places, studying the technique with local instructors.
Soto based his studio in Jocotepec, where he created personal terracotta pieces for 14 years. He presented his collection in a twice a year at the ENART show in Tlaquepaque, which draws clients from all over the world. He closed his studio in 2015.
About a year ago Soto started to use the {repujado} technique, presenting his work during the 2018 Open Studios Show in Ajijic.
Bus trips to opera
Viva La Musica hosts three more bus trips to see live screenings of the Met Opera at the Teatro Diana in Guadalajara.
Saturday, April 7, the featured opera is “Cosi Fan Tutte” by Mozart. This satirical tale of love features Kelli O´Hara as Despina and Christopher Maltman as Don Alphonso. The opera runs for four hours. The bus departs at 9:30 a.m. for the 11 a.m. show.
Saturday April 14, “Luisa Miller” by Verdi, starring Placido Domingo in this rarely performed gem. It is a heart-wrenching tragedy of fatherly love, which also features Sonia Yoncheva in the title role opposite Pietr Bezala. The opera runs three and half hours. The bus departs at 9:30 a.m. for the 11 a.m. show.
Saturday April 28, “Cinderella,” by Massenet is the final showing of the season. This masterpiece stars Joyce DiDonato in the title role, with Kathleen Kim, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naoui as Pandolfe. The opera is just over three hours. The bus departs at 10 a.m. for the noon show.
Viva bus trips cost 450 pesos, 550 for non-members. Tickets are available at the Lake Chapala Society, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to noon or by calling Rosemary Keeling, 766-1801.
LLT playhouse series
Lakeside Little Theatre screens the National Theatre Live presentation of Simon Stone’s radical production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Yerma,” Saturday and Sunday, April 7 and 8, 3 p.m.
This tale of one’s woman’s desperation to conceive is disconcertingly contemporary.
Billie Piper returns in her Evening Standard Best Actress award-winning role in Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece.
Set in contemporary London, Piper’s portrayal of a woman in her thirties desperate to conceive builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking, climax.
The theatrical phenomenon sold out at the Young Vic and critics call it “an extraordinary theatrical triumph” (The Times) and “stunning, searing, unmissable” (Mail on Sunday). Piper’s lead performance is described as “spellbinding” (The Evening Standard), “astonishing” (iNews) and “devastatingly powerful” (The Daily Telegraph).
This is not your standard night out to the theater – expect tears, blood and the hunger for Yerma’s journey to end at any cost.
Tickets, 250 pesos, are available at LLT’s box office Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to noon and one hour before curtain. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (376) 766-0954.
Bus trip to ballet
Friday, April 13, Viva La Musica offers a bus trip to the performance of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by the talented Ballet de Jalisco at the Cabañas Cultural Institute in Guadalajara.
The bus departs at 6:30 p.m. for the performance at 8 p.m. Tickets, 500 pesos for Viva members, 600 for non-members, are available at the Lake Chapala Society, Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to noon.
Call Rosemary Keeling, 766-1801, to reserve. Reserve early before the tickets run out, as the ballet is popular in Guadalajara.
Musical magic
Arya Tara, a band of musicians from Guadalajara with very distinct musical roots,will play the Centro Cultural Ajijic, Saturday, April 14, 6 p.m.
Arya Tara members Mari Camarena, Ravi Daniel Rangel, Noe Castro and Eddie Lara bring a synergy consisting of Bel Canto, flamenco sounds, Indian influences, classic guitar, a passion for the accordion and percussion that makes you want to dance.
Tickets, 120 pesos, are available at the Centro Cultural Ajijic.