THE SHADOW’S DESIGN: A BAROQUE ALTARPIECE
A Play in Two Acts
© INDAUTOR
CONTACT: bengavarre@gmail,com
gavarreunam@gmail.com
THE SHADOW’S DESIGN: A BAROQUE
ALTARPIECE
"I am the worst of all women—and the
greatest of your nightmares."
Before she was a symbol on a banknote or a figure
in a textbook, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a
fire that the Inquisition couldn't extinguish. In this PLAY, the 17th-century's greatest prodigy is brought to life not as a
static icon, but as a living Trinity: the Child who sacrificed
her hair for logic, the Courtier who turned
wit into a weapon, and the Nun who signed her
own silence in blood.
Why this play? Why now?
- A Modern Bridge: The Shadow’s Design bridges the gap between the
rigid dogmas of the Spanish Golden Age and the modern global struggle for
intellectual freedom. It asks a question that still resonates today: What is the price of speaking your truth in a world that
demands your silence?
- A Theatrical Marvel:
Witness a "Baroque Altarpiece" in motion. Through a stunning use
of Chiaroscuro lighting, surrealist staging, and the
inclusion of Sor Juana’s original, devastatingly sharp poetry, the stage
becomes a space where time dissolves.
- The Three Juanas:
Experience a unique metatheatrical journey as three versions of the same
woman confront one another across the decades, reclaiming their identity
from the men—and the Church—that sought to define them.
What the Critics are Saying (Preview):
"A visceral, intellectual thrill ride. It
takes the 'Tenth Muse' off her pedestal and puts her where she belongs: in the
middle of a revolution."
— The Stage
"Visually haunting and rhetorically lethal.
This version of Sor Juana doesn’t just recite poetry; she performs surgery on
the patriarchy of the 1600s."
— Baroque Review
Performance Details
- Duration: 120
minutes (with one intermission).
- Language:
Performed in English (featuring the original Spanish sonnets as lyrical
anchors).
- Themes:
Intellectual freedom, female agency, Baroque philosophy, and the
immortality of the written word.
CAST & CHARACTERIZATION
- JUANITA (The Child): Barefoot, short-cropped hair. She represents pure curiosity and the "child prodigy" whose mind is too large for her body.
- JUANA INÉS (The Courtier): Dressed in heavy silks and jewels. She is the triumph of form, wit, and the "Fame of the Palace."
- SOR JUANA (The Nun): Wears a simple white linen tunic and a fallen veil. No heavy medallions—just a woman in her workshop.
- THE LADY DEATH (The Pilgrim): A presence of marble paleness, dressed in eternal mourning weeds.
- ARCHBISHOP AGUIAR Y SEIJAS: A frigid authority. His name, "Aguiar," suggests aguar (to dampen or spoil). He is the extinguisher of lights.
- ANTONIO NÚÑEZ DE MIRANDA (The Confessor): A man who loves Juana’s soul but fears her mind.
- LISI (MARÍA LUISA): The Vicereine. A sanctuary of silk and iron will.
ACT I: THE MIRROR AND THE CLAY
SCENE 0: THE PORTRAIT AND THE SUGAR SKULLS
SETTING: The cell. On the table are sugar skulls labeled Juana, Lisi, and Antonio. In the center, a covered portrait.
MUSIC: A capella polyphony; a murmur of sacred voices.
(SOR JUANA enters, shedding a heavy shawl. JUANITA and JUANA INÉS emerge from the shadows, looking at the skulls).
- JUANITA: (Picking up a skull) This one says "Juana." Is it for eating or for remembering?
- JUANA INÉS: It is for sweetening our fear, little one.
- SOR JUANA: (Uncovering the painting) "This that you gaze upon, a colorful deceit... is a vain artifice of care... it is a corpse, it is dust, it is a shadow, it is nothing."
- JUANA INÉS: The painter stole my sleepless nights. He gave me this porcelain face that knows nothing of what a rhyme costs.
- JUANITA: (To Sor Juana) Why are your fingers stained black with ink? I wanted my hands to be white so I could touch the stars.
- SOR JUANA: Because the stars, child, are only reached by staining oneself with the world.
SCENE I: THE SHADOW OF THE CONFESSOR
SETTING: A corner of the cell that resembles a confessional. ANTONIO NÚÑEZ DE MIRANDA holds a cilice.
- NÚÑEZ: I can no longer defend you, Juana. The Archbishop sees your comedies and finds a crack in the walls of the Church in every verse.
- SOR JUANA: What crack can be opened by a verse that seeks the harmony of the universe, Father Antonio?
- NÚÑEZ: The crack of pride. You wish to know everything, and knowledge is a sea where women shipwreck. "You foolish men who accuse women without reason..." You use your own verses against the very order that protects you.
- JUANA INÉS: You sought me for my salvation, but you delighted in my fame. You asked me to be a saint, yet you boasted of your "Prodigy" to the Court.
SCENE II: THE ARCHBISHOP’S SENTENCE
SETTING: The Archbishop’s oratory. Thick gloom.
- AGUIAR Y SEIJAS: Francisco de Aguiar y Seijas. My name is a warning. I have come to dampen the fires of vanity. This woman is not a nun; she is a theater in a habit.
- NÚÑEZ: She is a prodigious wit, Excellency...
- AGUIAR Y SEIJAS: A prodigy is a monster if it does not serve obedience. She measures the heavens with an astrolabe while the people die of ignorance. I shall take her toys away. Let her cell finally become a tomb for her pride.
ACT II: THE STRIPPING AND THE DREAM
SCENE III: THE SIGNATURE IN BLOOD
SETTING: The empty cell. DEATH holds the inkwell. SEIJAS and NÚÑEZ wait like judges.
- AGUIAR Y SEIJAS: Sign, Juana. Deliver your library. Sell your astrolabe.
- SOR JUANA: (She pricks her finger. The silence is absolute). With this blood, I seal my defeat. "Here ends the Fame. I, the worst of all women."
- NÚÑEZ: (In a whisper) At last... peace.
- SOR JUANA: No, Father. At last... the desert. But the desert is where the stars are best heard.
SCENE IV: THE TRANSCENDENT CONCLAVE
SETTING: An infinite white space. The three Juanas stand face to face.
- JUANITA: (Touching Sor Juana’s face) You have wrinkles... like old maps. Are you me?
- SOR JUANA: I am what remains of your questions, little one.
- JUANA INÉS: How did we allow them to lock us in this body, in this century?
- SOR JUANA: They did not lock us in. We chose this disguise so our voice would not die with us. We were a whole century that could not fit into one woman.
- JUANITA: Does it matter that I cut my hair, then?
- SOR JUANA: (Embracing them) It matters because it was the price of our glory. They took our life, yes... but we became the book they can never close.
SCENE V: FINALE - THE DREAM AND THE PLAGUE
SETTING: The grey cell. DEATH extinguishes the candles one by one.
- SOR JUANA: What is life? A frenzy. What is life? An illusion, a shadow... For even the greatest good is small, and all of life is a dream... and dreams, are only dreams.
(Juana falls. The light fades into the astrolabio's glow).
EPILOGUE: THE CURTAIN OF POSTERITY
- SOR JUANA (Voice-over): Do not seek me in the blood of my signature, but in the flight of my doubt.
- DEATH: (To the audience) Make way for the Tenth Muse! Make way for the Phoenix! The play... has only just begun.
TOTAL DARKNESS.
This guide is designed for directors and actors approaching these iconic texts within the context of the play. Sor Juana’s writing is a labyrinth of logic, and for an international cast, the challenge lies in translating not just the words, but the rhetorical surgery she performs on her society.
I. "Hombres Necios" (The Satirical Redondillas)
In Mexico, these verses are foundational, often recited by children. For an international cast, the key is to move past the "feminist anthem" label and into the mathematical irony of the text.
1. The Meaning of "Necio"
- The Nuance: "Necio" is often translated as "foolish" or "stupid." However, in the 17th-century Baroque context, it implies a willful lack of reason or a "stubborn ignorance."
- Direction: The actor playing Juana Inés should deliver this not with shouting anger, but with the cool, devastating precision of a scientist observing a flawed experiment.
2. The Chiasmus (The Mirror Effect)
- The Nuance: Sor Juana uses "cross-logic" (e.g., “the one who sins for pay, or the one who pays for the sin?”).
- Direction: In English, emphasize the antithesis. The rhythm should feel like a tennis match where Juana is hitting every ball back twice as hard. It is an intellectual trap.
3. Cultural Archetypes: Thais vs. Lucretia
- The Nuance: She references Thais (the prostitute) and Lucretia (the chaste wife).
- Director’s Note: Ensure the cast understands that Juana is criticizing the "Madonna-Whore complex" 300 years before it was named. The men want a woman to be Thais during the pursuit and Lucretia once possessed—an impossible, illogical demand.
II. "Primero Sueño" (The Philosophical Silva)
This is Juana’s Magnum Opus. It is one of the most difficult poems in the Spanish language because of its Latinized syntax and soaring Neoplatonism.
1. The Pyramid of the Soul
- The Nuance: The poem describes the soul leaving the body at night to climb a "pyramidal shadow" toward the stars. It is a journey of pure intellect.
- Direction: For the "Juanita" (Child) and "Sor Juana" (Monja) characters, the delivery should feel asphyxiatingly vast. This isn't a dream about feelings; it’s a dream about Data—the soul trying to download the entire universe at once.
2. The "Failure" of Knowledge
- The Nuance: Unlike Enlightenment poems that celebrate human triumph, Primero Sueño ends in defeat. The soul is blinded by the light of the Sun (God/Absolute Knowledge) and falls back into the body.
- Direction: The "Transcendent Conclave" scene must capture this Heroic Failure. It is a tragedy of the mind. The soul didn't fail because it was weak, but because the Universe is infinitely larger than the human brain.
3. Syntax as Architecture
- The Nuance: Juana uses "hyperbaton" (reversing word order). In English, this can sound "Yoda-like" if done poorly, or "Miltonic" if done well.
- Direction: Encourage the actors to find the verb first. The "First Dream" is a spiral. The words should feel like they are circling upward, losing breath as they reach the apex of the pyramid.
III. Performance Strategies for the Three Juanas
Character | Vocal Quality | Physical Intent |
Juanita (The Child) | Sharp, staccato, breathless. | Constantly reaching upward; eyes wide and unblinking. |
Juana Inés (Courtier) | Melodic, rhythmic, flirtatious but lethal. | Centered, balanced; uses her fan/mirror as a weapon of logic. |
Sor Juana (The Nun) | Deep, resonant, weighted by silence. | Stillness. The movement should be internal, as if she is a statue holding a fire. |
IV. The Concept of "Desengaño" (Disillusionment)
This is the most important Baroque concept for the cast. It is the moment the "mask" is removed.
- The Nuance: It is not "disappointment" (negative); it is "un-deceiving" (positive). To be desengañado is to finally see the truth: that life is a dream and only the work/the soul remains.
- Closing Note: When they recite the final Calderón lines ("Dreams are only dreams"), it should feel like a release, not a defeat.
