No one can fault the quality of Theater here in Cruces but the Arts community in Alamogordo and the Tularosa Basin is equally impressive – but in a quite different way and maybe that difference is worth exploring –
Unlike Cruces, which tends toward Broadway and the Classics, in Alamo, productions explore local concerns. And like 4 Suicides…, the people who are this amazing production are locals deeply devoted not just to the performance, but to the complexity and challenge of Suicide as the final countdown.
On Friday evening, the Flickinger on Main Street in Alamogordo will present 4 Suicides Looking for a Place to Happen. It is written and directed by Pablo Jasso, an Air Force and Army veteran who has been in theater for over 40 years. Jasso came face to face with the statistically relevant causes of military suicide while working at Fort Bliss as the museum history specialist. His own experience and conversations with others on the post inspired him to put these stories to the public in a form he knows best: a play.
The play, beginning with the form, concept and cadence of the title, is strongly reminiscent of Pirandello’s 6 Characters in Search of an Author. I mentioned this to Pablo in my first e-mail, the strong correspondence not only in the title but also in the deeper explorations of Identity, Reality and Illusion that surely was not accidental. And indeed it went beyond a simple, apparent accident, a sound pattern remembered from earlier, but the secret framework, the inspiration, for 4 Suicides… In Cruces, you are likely to see a play by Pirandello; in Alamogordo, you are likely to see a play that exposes the everyday realities as seen through the lens of a Pirandello play.
The plays’ similarities to each other, touching only lightly in action but deeply in philosophy, but both expose the deeper often hidden realities of individuals in crisis. In 6 Characters…, the characters exist but are searching for an Author: the embodiment of that force that will show them as who they are with their Identities, relationships, events and competing meanings intact, and do this without replacing them with someone else’s interpretations. They want their realities to come to life as they are, in the words, rather than being someone else’s illusory story. In 6 Characters… and in 4 Suicides…, this unflagging, deep and revealing honesty is important.
4 Suicides Looking for a Place to Happen… doesn’t tell you “about” suicide; it shows you precisely how it happens; shows you what leads up to it. And you see the truth in the faces of these actors and actresses. And you see it in context, with all the supporting details.
And what’s “honesty” in this context? And then, Why? As a multiple attempt survivor, I can answer why: it is because there was no other way out of feeling of being locked in a really bad place — with no way out. And we see over and over in each of the four acts of this absolutely brilliant play.
I say brilliant but it’s not brilliant in the way of Shakespeare or Andrew Lloyd Webber. It’s brilliant in that it’s spot on. Shakespeare and Andrew Lloyd Webber show you stories; Jasso engages you in the reality. The play, the people on the stage, show you what’s often hidden, and the paths that lead to finally finding a way out ——
How to Go
Join us at the Flickinger, 1110 New York Avenue, Alamogordo, New Mexico for the 6pm performance. Doors open at 5:40 pm. Admission is free but donations of canned or dry food; unopened hygiene products; and gift cards. These will help in being there for homeless and at-risk veterans.
About the Image
The image is mine, born in service of a song, crafted with one of my AIs and perfected with Photoshop. Used here because it fits.
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