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Regional Reviews: Albuquerque/Santa Fe Persephone, Baby Also see Carole's review of Arsenic and Old Lace
The bones of the myth are this: Demeter, the goddess of harvest, agriculture, and grain has a daughter with Zeus (king of the gods and of thunderbolts). This daughter is named Persephone, and she is the goddess of spring. Hades, the god of the underworld and brother to Zeus, sees Persephone and through what means the teller leans into (abduction, coercion, some have even argued lust), she is taken into the Underworld. Before Persephone can be found, and as the world dies while Demeter looks for her lost daughter, Persephone consumes six pomegranate seeds. Because she has eaten food from the Underworld she must now come back six months out of the year. While Persephone is away from her mother the earth has no harvest, and when Persephone is with her mother the earth is plentiful. This is the Greek explanation for why there are seasons.
The set of the underworld versus the world is brilliantly navigated and invites the audience into the creation of theatre to use their imaginations. The use of shadow puppetry harkens back to older theatre traditions and gives the audience the sense of being involved in a story older than time itself. You are utterly transported.
The Chorus: Vanessa Rios y Valles is a great narrator of the tale and the rest of the cast is brilliantly realized. Breshaun-Birene Joyner plays Demeter with grace and sensuality, perfect for a goddess of the harvest. We see a mother grappling with the theft of her daughter and how a mother's rage can scorch the earth. The goddess of spring, Persephone, is personified by Baby True and I cannot think of a better fit for the part. Powerful and feminine, she makes one realize that battle can be done without violence. The battle can be won with kindness and perseverance. In a world of gods deciding her fate, she is a Goddess indeed. Danielle L. Reddick's Hades is played with vitriol and with a certain pathetic air that knocks on your heart if not completely breaks it. Karen Gruber Ryan plays The Woman, and is our everyman in the show. The story of leaning into the wind with her daughter brought tears to my eyes. Our one man within the show, Matt Sanford, plays Zeus and his son Hercules in a way that made my skin crawl. His entitlement as Zeus is infuriating and his bid for forgiveness as Hercules touches the heart. Part of a good show is good casting and this is perfectly cast. What does it mean to be a god? To impose your will on another. To impose your desires on another body. To make your own desires into laws and phenomenon. These are the things of being a god. What would it mean if being a god or goddess means restoring things to goodness? This is the question of the show. Things are left to the imagination, such as the abduction of Persephone, while other things such as Demeter's rage are given center stage. The playwright has navigated this well. There is a subversion of the traditional ending, which I will not spoil. Those loyal to the Greek tale may find the ending too subversive for their taste. I found the change intriguing, if not loyal to the source material. I hope to see New Mexico Actors Lab invest in new shows in the future because it is always wonderful to see new shows that will most certainly be added to the canon. Persephone, Baby runs through October 18, 2026, at New Mexico Actors Lab at 1213 Parkway Dr b, Santa Fe NM. Performances Thursday-Saturday 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Ticket prices range from $21.50 to $41.50. For tickets and information, please visit www.nmactorslab.com or over call 505-395-6576.
Chorus: Vanessa Rios y Valles Set Design, Prop Design, and Direction by Emily Rankin. Stage Manager: Heather Campbell. Lighting Designer: Skip Rapoport. Sound Design: Gregory J. Fields. Costume Design: Natalie Fragola. Intimacy Coordinator: Christina Vigil. Company Photographer Lynn Roylance
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