Aloha Boricua is made up of story, verse, and song — an evocative, sometimes puzzling exploration of history and of the ways in which migrant experience and cultural heritage are distilled, preserved, or turned on their heads. The inspiration for it is double: on one hand, the formidable journey of Puerto Ricans to the islands of Hawaii at the very tail end of the 19th Century; on the other, the exuberant literature of Manuel Ramos Otero, with its queer turns, detours, and multiple voices. From both I draw lessons in difference and fortitude. But what dazzles me most is a shared story-telling habit that sustains and glues together a people over time and space. Aloha Boricua is largely made up of those stories —made up, borrowed, or stolen— that make the Puerto Rican diaspora a living thing. Jorge B. Merced – Director, dramaturg and co-composer.
Jorge, I agree with your thoughts on storytelling. Do you feel that storytelling originally drew you to this work or did it emerge after? I ask because of the strong feeling of storytelling I get from many of the members of Pregones Theater.
Certainly the story and the telling of it remain as the main reasons for embarking on this journey. Vivir del cuento (to live off of stories) becomes the action; a voice that must reclaim and retell its own story in order to remain alive and present. Storytelling is thus not just an action but the urgent and essential signifier of life itself.
In Aloha Boricua, the story gave birth to the characters, and all of them needed to tell their own version of the story that gave them life. Some through first person accounts, like in the case of our central character Monserrate Alvares. Others via commentary and assuming the different voices in the story, like the case of Chu and Queen Lili. But storytelling was central. And music became fabric through which the story came to life. Thus the concept of a live concert. Not a musical nor a play but rather the coming together of a dynamic group of “rock star divas” itching to sing about a century-old story.
From there I was able to draw links to many of Manuel Ramos Otero’s extensive poetry work and seek ways to revisit some of his poems through the lens of migration.