The Drama!
Santa Fe Playhouse’s Fiesta Melodrama turns 101 but doesn’t look a day over 100
After 100 years of annual Fiesta Melodrama performances at the Santa Fe Playhouse, you’d think people would have realized the tongue-in-cheek nature of the show. This one’s meant to entertain and lambast to be titillating and raw—a roast of the town itself and the people, places, things, issues, laws, newspapers (although I still maintain it’s a travesty they’ve never based a villain on me), politicians, local celebrities and general Santa Fe-ness that makes this place so freaking weird. Still, according to Felix Cordova, a longtime melodrama actor who phased into the director’s chair for the first time this year, his new duties come with challenges all its own.
“We’ve had 101 of these, and we’ve had certain traditions that now, with sensitive people, are hard to keep alive,” he tells SFR. “Now if you make an offensive joke, people want you to justify it, but that’s why the show takes place 100 years in the past, to say, ‘this is how we used to be and it’s OK to be a little risqué.’”
As is tradition, Cordova directs the show from a script written by a shadowy cabal of anonymous Santa Feans. In this year’s production, the nefarious realtor Lupita Lottanalgas (Haly Etlantus) hatches a scheme to destroy the town and get rich at the same time. When she hires the seemingly naïve but ultimately über-good Mija Dos Dees (Tris Ikeda), however, that plot might go awry. It’ll be up to Mija and a cavalcade of locals to bring her down, and Cordova says the main sticking points will revolve around water use, gentrification and a perceived overpopulation of Santa Fe. He’ll also tread the boards for the show once more himself.
“Honestly, I wasn’t planning on acting,” he says, “but we didn’t have a lot of Hispanic folks auditioning, so I threw myself in so we could add the Chicano-ness it was missing.”
For those who’ll miss longtime melodrama player Cliff Russell who departed the company last year, keep an eye out for onstage Easter eggs. Actually, the whole damn thing’s an Easter egg. Maybe just do like Cordova says and just go with it. The show runs through Sunday, Sept. 10 and will sell out so fast. (Alex De Vore)
101st Santa Fe Fiesta Melodrama: 7 pm Wednesday, Aug. 23-Saturday, Aug. 26; 2 pm, Saturday, Aug. 26. $15-$75. Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E De Vargas St., (505) 988-4262, santafeplayhouse.org
Tradical!
Hear ye, hear ye, all fans of traditional jams like bluegrass, Americana, country, folk and beyond! Your ship has come in, and they’ve dubbed her the HMS Santa Fe Tradfest. OK, there’s no “HMS” for real, but there’s a lineup packed with acoustic instrument owners like you wouldn’t believe. We’re talking Bruce Molsky, Lone Piñon, the Kathy Kallick Band and more, plus an appearance from the Lightning Boy Foundation’s hoop dancers. Tradfest boasts workshops and panels, too, plus camping and food; lots for kids, up-and-comers, jammers, banjo fans, two-steppers, hat aficionados and so much more. Tl;dr? There’s a big old traditional music fest taking over Camp Stoney this weekend—let it be known. (ADV)
Santa Fe Tradfest: 4-10 pm Friday, Aug. 25; 10 am-10 pm Saturday, Aug. 26 and 10 am-noon Sunday, Aug. 27. $20-$80 (kids 12 and under free). Camp Stoney, 7855 Old Santa Fe Trail, (505) 820-3166, santafetradfest.org
Cars and Whatever
Oh, so you buncha next-level Star Wars nerds think you love George Lucas, huh? Does that mean you’ve also seen American Graffiti? If so, feel free to stop reading and just try to get on with your lives—if not, buckle up (you’d get that if you’d seen the movie) and get to Violet Crown Cinema. It’s summer’s end, ‘62, and a bunch of dweebs played by the likes of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Cindy Williams take to the streets of their backwater California town to listen to legendary DJ Wolfman Jack spin the classics while they drive around and come of age and stuff. Harrison Ford’s in this thing, though it wasn’t technically his first movie—still, we got Han Solo because America fell in love with him in this 1973...well, we don’t want to say classic, but people seem to like it OK. Celebrate its 50th anniversary this very weekend, people of a certain age! (ADV)
American Graffiti 50th Anniversary: 4 pm Sunday, Aug. 27 and 7 pm Wednesday, Aug. 30. $15. Violet Crown Cinema, 1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678, santafe.violetcrown.com
Eat Your Words
Hmm...what? What’re people doing on Tuesday? Oh, y’know, no big—just checking it out when James Beard Award-winning food writer, Native food historian and Santa Fean Lois Ellen Frank comes to Eldorado to launch her new book, Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky: Modern Plant-Based Recipes Using Native American Ingredients. Eldo’s Purple Fern Bookstore hosts the event, which also reportedly features a dessert tasting, and chef Walter Whitewater joins the fracas in a discussion about implementing the ideas within Seed to Plate. If that’s not worth a visit from the folks who live inside city limits, we don’t know what is. Books, dessert, you—together at last! (ADV)
Lois Ellen Frank Book Launch, Conversation and Tasting: 6:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 29. Free. Purple Fern Bookstore, 7 Avenida Vista Grande, (505) 983-8711, purplefernbooks.com