Juli Hendren thinks about the future a lot. Specifically, how we move forward and through catastrophe. Her answer – make work about it. Her current directorial challenge, Somewhere: A Primer for the End of Days, is a contemporary piece that examines intimate, human stories amid a global crisis. While many stories we have become familiar with focus on the destruction and impact of war all the way to a zombie apocalypse, Somewhere brings attention to the emotional journey of both humans and nature as they connect and transform as an unimaginable end to the world comes.
Written by Marisela Treviño Orta, Somewhere tells the story of sister and brother Cassandra and Alexander on their quest to find new nesting grounds by following the last remaining monarch butterfly’s migration pattern. When they run into a small group of people on a truffle farm who are preparing for the collapse of society, they must learn how to overcome fear and trust each other. Director Juli Hendren is also including puppet work, specifically representations of the butterflies and of nature itself, who are ever present as the end of the world potentially comes.
“I always discover more about what it is to be human when working in the theatre.” Said Juli Hendren. “I love watching young actors bring their own experiences and emotional knowledge into their character creation. I may read the characters one way on the page, but I love discovering the student actors’ interpretation of the character.” In order to provide more performance opportunities to more students, Hendren has split the lead roles of Cassandra (Janae Clay and Serenity Garcia) and Alexander (Awni Tottaro and Rafa Payne) and has incorporated three actors as the Nature Gods and Puppeteers.
Somewhere: A Primer for the End of Days opens Friday, September 26th and runs until October 4th in the Experimental Theatre in the UNM Center for Fine Arts. Showtimes and tickets are available at unmtickets.com or the UNM Box Office.
Sabrina Carletti is an Assistant Professor of Art History whose research focuses on the interdisciplinary study of modern and contemporary Latin American art and culture. Her work explores the intersections of artists’ practices, literature, media, and the production of knowledge, rethinking how the conceptual terms used to describe artistic practice shape our understanding of what art does.
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