On March 24, 1980, in San Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Amulfo Romero was assassinated while saying mass. The next day in Chicago, Mundelein College professor and playwright Nick Patricca read about it. It was the first he’d heard of Romero. And the news did something to him.
Without further research, Patricca wrote a draft of a play. Later he added a chorus of gods chosen from Mayan myths and reshaped the work along the lines of Near East tomb plays and medieval mystery plays. The final result, entitled The Fifth Sun, is playing Thursdays through Sundays through June 26, at Latino Chicago’s converted firehouse at 1625 N. Damen. In July the cast will take the play to San Antonio for the international TENAZ Festival of Chicano/Latino Theater.
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After Romero’s assassination, everyone–dead, alive, mortal, immortal, right wing, left wing–sings and dances, all smiles, to the salsa beat of Ruben Blades. The song seems lighthearted, but the words are grim, describing the killing of a Spanish priest in Central America.
Patricca says he wants to gently push the audience. “I want them to contemplate and be moved to compassionate action in the world,” he says. As he suits his actions to his word, he adds, “I want to touch their minds, hearts, and souls.”
