The Presence of Absence is a moving nocturne which chronicles the lives of several generations of Cuban women. The central action pivots on Margarita, an exile residing in the United States, who struggles to come to terms with her divided identity, a traumatic past she has suppressed, her rupture with her family, and consequent failure to share their heritage with her daughter, Lily. The Presence of Absence examines the literal ghosting of marginalized female stories.
Playwright—Andrea Herrera
Director—Candice Brown
Musical Composition & Performance—Zahili Zamora
Program Information
Playwright's Note
As a teacher, scholar, and artist, I have increasingly focused my work on the importance of healing and the themes of forgiveness, belonging, and connection to family, community, and place. My most recent project, The Presence of Absence (a Cuban nocturne), has been developed throughout the pandemic and its long aftermath. I felt I had something important to contribute during this most painful and turbulent moment in human history, and this time of increasing discord and unrest across the world.The Presence of Absence is a memory play that chronicles the lives of several generations of Cuban women. The action play is set in both pre- and post-revolutionary Cuba; and the plot pivots on Margarita, an exile residing in the United States who attempts to come to terms with her divided identity, a traumatic past she has suppressed, and her fear of sharing her heritage with her daughter, Lily. The Presence of Absence is unconventional in its treatment of the decline of the landed class, its correlative social order in Cuba, and the struggle to adapt and survive amid rapid political and social change following the 1959 revolution. In its literal ghosting of marginalized or forgotten stories, the play addresses some of the deepest wounds within the Cuban community, for it highlights the themes of dislocation, the consequent separation of the family, and the parallel losses and hardships experienced by Cubans who fled the island and those who remained behind—a subject virtually unexplored in Cuban literature.The Presence of Absence simultaneously addresses more universal, current issues regarding mental health and intergenerational trauma, particularly with respect to family dynamics and what Judy Herman terms the conspiracy of silence about the past. More specifically, the play explores the themes of post-traumatic stress and the consequent repression of memory as a survival mechanism. Through Lily, Margarita’s daughter, it also takes up subjects such as Marianne Hirsch’s concept of post-memory—the transmission of trauma not through direct recollection but through mediated images, objects, stories, behaviors, and affects—and the veiled transmission of history, memory, and culture as well as inherited or genetic memory (epigenetics). Ultimately, The Presence of Absence testifies to the power of forgiveness of self and others; and speaks to our collective need for healing.—Andrea Herrera
Cast
Reader/Narrator – Romina Khodaverdi Rafaela/Servant/Voice 3 – Mariana Elosua Adult Margarita – Isa Sanchez Lily/Young Margarita/Servant – Abby Salazar Rosa – Tatiana Arias Maria/Voice 1 – Paola C. Marcius Cruz Raul/U.S. Consular Officer – Armando Ortiz Production Credits
CREATIVE TEAM:
Playwright – Andrea Herrera
Director – Candice Brown
Musical Composition and Performance – Zahili Zamora
CONCERT SERVICES STAFF:
Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Coordinator, Concert Services – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 200 sheets of paper, 21 gallons of water, and 18 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
Streaming Live from Studio 401
The event will appear here during its scheduled time.
