EXCESS-ISMS : In ‘Marisol’s Christmas,’ SCR Casts Out the Demons of Holiday Commercialism

For years, a potholder has hung in my mother’s kitchen that reads: “Christmas is canceled. Go directly to dyeing eggs.”

I used to sniff (as only teen-age girls can) at this apparent lack of holiday spirit. Who could possibly not revel in the holiday’s tinsel-trimmed mayhem, or savor the giddy morning-after haze brought on by too much food, drink and merchandise?

Obviously, the answer is that there are many people who cannot, or will not, view the holidays as a ticket to excess, which is something playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez hopes to point out to children in “Marisol’s Christmas.” The show opens South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory Players’ 1992-93 children’s season Saturday on SCR’s Second Stage.

Set in an East Los Angeles park on Christmas Eve, “Marisol’s Christmas” is the story of a young Mexican family whose members have been separated as they secretly crossed the border into the United States. As the girl, Marisol, and her father wait hopefully for the mother’s arrival, they try to buoy each other’s spirits by spinning fantastic tales.

However, “Marisol’s Christmas” is not a lesson in Latino culture or in immigration or homelessness, said Gonzalez, who is founder and director of SCR’s Hispanic Playwrights Project.

“The underlying theme is Christmas (and that it) doesn’t matter where you come from or what you have or don’t have,” said Gonzalez, who says his show compares in some ways to Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” “It’s the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving that’s important.”

But this Christmas, Marisol and her father have no presents to exchange. Instead they share their imaginations freely, Gonzalez said. “The little girl is scared, and the father tries to calm her by making up this story,” he explained. “It’s his gift to her, a way to celebrate.”

“Marisol’s Christmas,” the first play by Gonzalez to receive a full production (his “Harvest Moon” was work-shopped this fall by El Teatro Campesino in Northern California), was partly inspired by his work with SCR’s Neighborhood Conservatory, a theater program for low-income children. In a class at Santa Ana’s Corbin Center, Gonzalez asked students to volunteer words and ideas that came to mind. One boy’s thought, that of a star or comet falling to Earth, made a particular impression on him.

Later, as he was driving to and from San Diego, Gonzalez noticed freeway signs near the border patrol checkpoint warning drivers of pedestrians crossing the freeway. He began thinking of those immigrant families, especially at Christmastime. These thoughts, coupled with the Corbin Center experience, eventually formed the foundation of “Marisol’s Christmas.”

The show was first developed as a simple three-character play for Orange County’s Teatro Cucucuavez and performed for two holiday seasons to largely Latino audiences. For its SCR debut, Gon zalez worked with YCP director Diane Doyle to embellish the piece considerably, stretching the cast to 10 (eight Young Conservatory students, ages 9 to 18, and two adults from the theater’s Professional Conservatory) and emphasizing the story’s fairy-tale feeling.

“It’s fantasy book-ended by reality,” says Doyle, who directs the play. “The child names things--fire, a comet, a Christmas present because she’d really like to have one, the L.A. Dodgers, her mom--and her father creates the story. It’s all from the mind of the child.”

The cast, aided by SCR’s considerable creative and technical resources, bring Marisol’s imaginings to life. Each of the fantasy characters has a distinct personality and problem: La Senorita Saturno is an aspiring beauty queen, Cometa needs a boost back into the heavens, the Christmas package has fallen off a truck and needs to find a home. They, along with baseball heroes Jose Canseco and Fernando Valenzuela, a female rapper named Gravi-T, and others eventually band together to reach their goals.

Spanish phrases are sprinkled throughout (Michelle Caravis, the 9-year-old who plays Marisol, is of Cuban descent and fluent in Spanish), and contemporary Mexican heroes like Canseco and Valenzuela are featured characters, but Doyle says the play’s message transcends all cultures.

“It’s universal,” Doyle said. It’s about “making the best of a bad situation, making do with less, and finding your way home.”

SCR’s Youth Theater Season

South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory Players, youths who have completed at least two years of SCR’s theater training program for children, presents a three-play season for family audiences each year--two on SCR’s Second Stage and the third in the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Founders Hall.

“Marisol’s Christmas,” an original holiday play by Jose Cruz Gonzalez, opens the 1992-93 season with performances Saturday through Dec. 20 on the Second Stage. “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a campy adaptation by Greg Atkins with music by Diane King Vann, runs March 27 through April 4 at Founders Hall. Closing the season is “The Forgotten Door,” a modern fantasy that YCP director Diane Doyle describes as “part ‘E.T.,’ part ‘Superman.’ ” The show runs June 5 through 13 on the Second Stage.

A limited number of KIDscriptions for the three-play season are available. Prices are $21 for youngsters 17 and under, $28 for adults. For information, call (714) 957-2602.