Marcelino Quiñonez Brings ‘El Che’ Guevara to Life in Upcoming Production

By Editor August 4, 2016 06:18

By: Cindy G. Castillo

“Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.”

These were words once spoken by the Cuban Revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, words that now inspire Marcelino Quiñonez and his upcoming play, “El Che,” coming to the Phoenix Center for the Arts August 26-28. “At the risk of appearing ridiculous, I will say that this project is guided by strong feelings of love towards our community,” Quiñonez said, “love to educate, and to inspire our people and our communities.”

“El Che” will be an intimate portrayal of the revolutionary, following him through the intimate struggles of his personal life. It will feature performances by James Garcia, Elisa Gonzales, Javier Stefano de Vita, among others under the direction of Matthew Wiener and production of Benny Morel.

In this production, Marcelino aims do demystify the life of El Che as we know him. He wants audience members to see that there is more behind the icon – a human being that struggled personally, but managed to accomplish great feats. “It’s seeing someone that we only know as a myth and seeing him engaged in real life situations that gets us to think, ‘I can do that,” he explained.

The idea for the production was born in November 2015 and since then, Marcelino admits that the hardest part in the playwright process was being selective of the parts of Che’s life to bring to stage. “Che lived such a full life, that it was hard figuring out which aspects of his life to tell,” he said, “I finally broke it down to his relationships because I think relationships are what make life interesting.”

Also a challenge was able to bring in his creativity and vision into a play that doesn’t tell his story, but someone else’s. “It was just finding a way to be faithful to his life… to not exaggerate or lie about it. At the end, people will get a fair balance and interpretation of who Che was because he doesn’t come off as a saint, he doesn’t come off as a villain or someone perfect – he comes across as a human being.”

And the most human aspect of the play will be to find out if Che’s fight as a revolutionary was worth giving up a family and children. A question that will be put on stage, presenting a “mirror for people to look upon.” Overall, Marcelino hopes that “El Che” will spread the message that Latino stories matter, and that these need to be shared. Again, guided by the words once spoken by the very own “Che” Guevara.

“We are creating a work of art that is inspired by love and in the end, it will light the fire within every audience member to figure out where they can be a revolutionary within their own lives, within their own communities and within their own families.”