After months of special training by director Robert Beltran, a troupe of 18 mostly Latino actors will come together this week to present Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in a production at the CASA 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights that has long been a goal of theater founder and artistic director Josefina Lopez.
Opening Oct. 17, beginning a five-week run at the theater’s main stage, “Julius Caesar” is the first Shakespeare play the theater company has presented in its more than 10-year history.
“It has always been part of my vision as artistic director of CASA 0101 Theater to bring classical literature like Shakespeare to the community of Boyle Heights,” Lopez said.
“As a young girl I was fortunate to be exposed to the classics, which helped me establish a firm foundation for myself as a writer while I was finding my own unique creative voice. I grew up in that neighborhood and I actually wanted to leave the Barrio, and I did. But I wanted to give something back, and that’s when I decided to go back to that community.”
That was in 2004, and CASA 0101, a theater space that has been successful for a decade now, was her inspiration and creation.
Then last year, Beltran came to a production Lopez did and the two decided to work together on a play by Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar.” Beltran, a successful actor who started his film career as Raoul in “Eating Raoul” and had a featured role in “Star Trek: Voyager,” has done a number of Shakespeare’s work with East L.A. Classic Theater Group, of which he is co-artistic director.
He began in January of this year, selecting actors to train and work for several months, introducing them to Shakespearean speech, to the rhythms of iambic pentameter and verse so he could present a full production of a play by Shakespeare.
“In ‘Julius Caesar,’ we are witnesses to the final death throes of the Roman republic,” Beltran said in a recent conversation from his Los Feliz home.
“We are doing the Shakespearean text, but I didn’t want to set it in ancient Rome: I didn’t want to use togas. We’re doing it in a small house, and I thought that togas would distance the audience from the play. We’re trying to find a mix of ancient Rome and contemporary styles.”
Beltran has been quoted as calling his production “surreal and nightmarish.” His idea is that ancient Rome can serve as an abstract metaphor for America.
“The play speaks to great ideals our own country was founded upon, which have eroded and declined over the years,” he said. “William Shakespeare wrote his play as a cautionary tale for his own country, with Julius Caesar’s dictatorship serving as the centerpiece for the degradation of Republican ideals at that time in 44 BC, when the play is set.”
Actors training for these roles come from all over the community, and the play, which originally featured just two roles for women, has another difference. Beltran has decided that it should not be gender specific. For instance, actor Lauren Ballesteros is playing Mark Antony in the play. “She was just right for the part: she has the energy, the great physicality the role calls for,” Beltran said. Woman play many other roles as the cast creates the more than 40 characters in the play.
“Julius Caesar” opens this weekend at CASA 0101 and marks the beginning of a new era as classical literature comes to Boyle Heights. It is also being presented as part of Encuentro 2014, Los Angeles Theatre Center’s festival highlighting latinos in theater in association with the Latina/o Theatre Commons. Which is all part of Lopez’ original goal.
“We want people to be caught up in the story,” Lopez said. “It has to be accessible.”
John Farrell is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.
