Photo by Ricardo Alcaraz.

Presented by Arts Emerson
Written by Papel Machete
Directed by Jorge ‘Cano Cangrejo’ Díaz Ortiz
Directing team: Deborah Hunt and Sugeily Rodríguez Lebrón
Selected voices by Rob Thelusma, Krystal Clark, Mumia Abu-Jamal
Puppet and mask design and direction by Deborah Hunt
Lighting design by Luis Felipe Rivera Santiago
In community partnership with Prison Radio and Sisters Unchained

October 31 – November 3, 2024
Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage
559 Washington Street Boston, MA 02111
Tickets here

Critique by Maegan Bergeron-Clearwood

Content advisory: flashing lights, strong language, gun violence

BOSTON — In Papel Machete’s On the Eve of Abolition, an ensemble of multi-talented performers demonstrate the power of imagination on two levels.

For one, there is the majesty of inventive storytelling. Papel Machete presents an ever-unfolding series of theatrical surprises: doll-sized prison doors open to reveal cells where marionette revolutionaries bide time until their uprising; pop-up book scenes of abolition camps and prisons are displayed simultaneously on stage and through video projection; characters appear in a variety of awe-inspiring configurations, from tiny figurines trapped in paper prisons to life-sized dancers in detailed, expressive masks.

There is also the utopian power of imagination, as the ensemble not only envisions but enacts abolitionist alternatives to our current dehumanizing systems of power. This production’s titular event takes place in 2047 and aims to liberate the last remaining prison, once and for all dismantling the prison industrial complex in the lands formerly known as the U.S. and Mexico. The 80-minute multimedia production, directed by Jorge ‘Cano Cangrejo’ Díaz Ortiz, follows Free the Springs Abolition Camp as they organize, fight, and dance their way to a better future.

To conceptualize this vision for radical transformation, Puerto Rican company Papel Machete has collaborated with incarcerated people and abolitionist organizations (including Prison Radio, which is hosting a letter-writing campaign in the lobby). The result is a bombastic, ear-splitting cry for change.

The puppets, masks, miniature sets, music, and costumes are impeccably detailed, but they are also crude, at times even grotesque. The staging sometimes verges on cacophony: a collision of drumbeats, chants, thrumming lights, and bodies in motion. The revolution, Papel Machete seems to be saying, may not be pleasant or comfortable, but it will be loud and embodied and glorious.

This all stands in stark contrast to the United States’ current political climate. On the eve of an election where democracy hangs in the balance, voting threatens to lull us into a false sense of complacency: the conceit that voting alone will propagate any kind of meaningful, liberatory transformation. In this moment of polite, “respectable” political engagement, I found it to be productively discomforting to sit with the final image of On the Eve of Abolition: organizers furiously waving the Puerto Rican and Palestinian flags, belting their voices and raising their fists in the hard-earned throes of victory.

The broad strokes of this production successfully tell the story of an uprising that overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds. There are so many production and plot elements, however, that significant (albeit minute) details frequently get lost in the shuffle. It’s difficult to keep track of the myriad locations, characters, and political nuances that comprise this intricate speculative fiction universe; this is made all the more challenging because of the unbalanced sound design, making louder frequencies particularly hard to understand.

I found myself wanting both less and more from this production. For one, less sensory overwhelm, so that the audience could sink into this fascinating world more deeply. And for another, more intimate moments with the abolitionists: the dozens of masks and puppets (masterfully designed by Deborah Hunt) combine to create a unified, collective aesthetic, but it becomes hard to identify individual characters. While I appreciate the production’s focus on collective solidarity, I found myself deeply interested in the interpersonal connections that brought this abolitionist movement to life.

I also craved an exploration of the Day After Abolition. This production ends on a singular victorious note, but I am curious to know how an ensemble as inventive and radical as Papel Machete might envision post-revolution liberation onstage.

Overall, The Eve of the Abolition is the kind of wake-up call that audiences need right now – abrasive and unsettling as that call might be. ¡Viva la libertad!

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