Framingham High Stages Bilingual Tragedy

Not one to shy away from difficult issues, Director chose the Spanish tragedy Bodas de Sangre by Federico Garcia Lorca for the high school's entry into the Massachusetts Drama Festival this weekend.

The High School Drama Company will stage Blood Wedding - a bilingual interpretation of the original play, written in 1932, tomorrow night (March 4) at 7 p.m. for the public. Tickets are $10.

The play, written by Lorca, was based on a newspaper article he read about a woman who ran away with her former lover on her wedding day.

The play, interpreted by Framingham High, tells the tale of a bride torn between two lovers and a mother's loss for her sons.

High school student Lauren Stockless has the difficult role of La Madre (the mother) Stockless, during a rehearsal switched between English and Spanish lines effortlessly.

The fludity of the original language of the play combined with translation issues, Wresinski has the students performing the play in not one language but a combination of two languages - English and Spanish.

This may have been difficult for some high schools, but not Framingham, in which some students are native Spanish speakers and some students have been learning Spanish since kindergarten.

It is a powerful and emotional performance. Sex and violence are part of the production, so the performance is for mature audiences.

Chloe Kounadis tackles the role of la novia (the bride) beautifully. Philip da Costa (groom) and Harry Meltzer portray her two lovers. 

The staging is filled with light and dark imagery, including the performances of the light of the moon (Mike Russo) and the darkness of the angel of death (Kiana Woodsom). 

In recent years, Framingham High has performed well at the Massachusetts Drama Festival.

This year, Framingham High is one of 14 hosts sites for the preliminary round Saturday. Three schools from each host site will move on to the semifinal round.

On Saturday, March 5, eight high school productions will compete at Framingham High, including the host. The others are: Billerica High, David Prouty High, Burncoat High, Minnechaug Regional High, Boston Latin High, Malden Catholic High and Beaver Country Day School.

Framingham takes to the stage at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Billerica High opens with Body of Faith at 9 a.m. and Beaver Country Day will close out the day at 5:30 p.m. with a staging of Little Women.