www.montereycountyweekly.com NOVEMBER 9-15, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 33 ONSTAGE It’s raining, so rehearsals (on a night just three days before the Nov. 9 opening) are taking place in an oversized garage space next to the Sand City Art Park. The windmill has been carried inside too, so as not to get wet. Theater group Enchantrix is getting ready to stage Man of La Mancha, the beloved musical version of Don Quixote, written by Dale Wasserman. This 1965 Broadway hit features music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. In this local version, the producer is Sean Aten (who also plays Padre), and the director is Joe Nance, a radio, film and theater producer from Seaside. Aten found a talented cast, with Cody Moore as a perfect Don Quixote (dead serious at times, light and humorous when needed) and his wonderful, faithful Sancho Panza (whose optimism is portrayed by Jona St. John, who has the best voice in the play). Also charismatic and delightfulto-watch is Jennah Montemayor as Aldonza, whom Don Quixote sees and treats as the lady of his heart. Wasserman’s take on the 17th-century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes tells the story of both Don Quixote and Cervantes. In this play, Don Quixote is Cervantes—that is, he is aware of playing Don Quixote, even if his ultimate wish is to live in this other reality. Moore successfully portrays this duality by switching between the deep, serious voice of the knight and the much lighter, more humorous Cervantes. So while the original novel leaves us with a sense of despair, this is Don Quixote psychoanalyzed, a Don Quixote who has read Franz Kafka’s The Trial. Songs are a big part of the play, and Tara Mann leads the cast as vocal coach. Many of them are recognizable to audiences, such as “Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote),” “I’m Only Thinking of Him,” or “Dulcinea.” The story itself praises the “madman,” who refuses to “come to terms with life as it is,” annoying his contemporaries. But in this version, Don Quixote is the philosopher, the dreamer, a former soldier who doesn’t understand why his companions died, or why they lived in the first place. “It’s practical to be mad,” Moore, playing Quixote/Cervantes, announces, “to see treasures where there’s only trash.” Man of La Mancha runs at 7pm Thursdays-Saturdays, Nov. 9-18. Sand City Art Park, 525 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. Pay what you will. enchantrix.net/lamancha. AGATA POPEDA La Mancha Man Theater group Enchantrix brings Don Quixote, the musical, to the Sand City Art Park. By Agata Pop˛eda From left to right: Cody Moore as Don Quixote, Anni Hautmann as Antonia, Sean Aten as Padre, Phyllis Davis as Maria and Wes White turning into Captain of the Inquisition. Monterey County Weekly’s 101 WORD STORY CONTEST First Prize is $101 2nd and 3rd place winners receive gift certificates! We’ll publish the winners in our December 21, 2023 issue Upload stories at: www.mcweekly.com/101words or by mail: Monterey County Weekly 101-Word Short Story Contest 668 Williams Ave., Seaside CA 93955 THURSDAY, NOV. 30 BY 5PM Write your name, address and phone number on each page you submit. Monterey County Weekly assumes no responsibility for returning submissions. Follow along and comment on stories at www.montereycountyweekly.com. 1. Stories may contain fewer than 101 words. 2. If a hyphenated word can be broken into two (or more) free-standing words it will be counted as two (or more) words. 3. Abbreviations are counted as one word. (“CA” or “California,” it’s still one word.) 4. Contractions are counted as one word. (“Isn’t” is one word; “is not” is two.) 5. Titles are not counted and are not necessary. 6. We reserve the right to re-title stories. 7. Poems are not acceptable. 8. Limit 3 entries per person. 9. If you mail in your entry, it must be submitted on 8.5 x 11 inch paper. PRINT | WEB | MOBILE DECEMBER 22-28, 2022 MONTEREYCOUNTYWEEKLY.COM LOCAL & INDEPENDENT HOUSING AGENCY BREAKUP 10 | BRIDGING THE GAP 14 | FATHER CHRISTMAS 34 | COOKIE RECIPES 40
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