El Nogalar Play Summary

On Friday, September 25th, I saw a full play production of El Nogalar at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. The play follows a mother and her two daughters, their maid, and a worker on the orchard as the women of the family try to figure out a way to save their pecan orchard (El Nogalar). The family is out of money but do not want to sell the orchard to a cartel because they will just cut down the Pecan trees and plant drugs. However, if the family doesn’t sell their land then the cartels are likely to just take it. El Nogalar utilizes the individuality of each character to argue how the cartels and drug war influence the point of view of different classes or types of people in Northern Mexico during the early 2010s. …show more content…
The family is so strapped for cash that Valeria gets upset at Dunia and Lopez when they turn on the lights during the day. With lighting being such a seemingly simple necessity, the hesitance to use it shows the severity of the financial situation that having the cartels take over their community has put the family and their orchard in to. It is also hard to ignore the classical association of darkness with distress and gloom that seems applicable to this play. The costumes also help to prime the audience to understand each character’s point of view. The plainness of Dunia’s wardrobe contrasted against Maite’s helps to show why their points of view differ; they have different backgrounds and lifestyles. This play is relevant to today’s times as it was set recently and cartels are still a large problem in Mexico. El Nogalar has larger political and social implications that show that the cartels in Mexico do more than just physical damage; they invade on Mexican’s social lives and threaten to destroy a lot of cultural history. As an audience member, you take away an understanding of the larger implications that cartels and their drug wars have on Mexican