Reviewing a play through just its audio components presents a challenge. Fortunately, Chicago gay playwright Nicholas A. Patricca's The Fifth Sun works very well in just an audio format.
Now available on CD presented by Actors Scene Unseen, The Fifth Sun is directed by Elizabeth Peterson-Vita and engineered by James Vita.
This is a political play that tells the story of El Salvador and its fight to remain free of control from outside forces. It centers on the moral and ethical conflicts facing Catholic clergy who were born there as well as nuns who traveled there from the United States. Boiling this 12-year civil war down into one play is impossible, but The Fifth Sun does an excellent job at capturing the tumult of the early 1980s in this Central American country.
As the play's descripton notes: "On March 24, 1980, while saying Mass, Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, was assassinated. [The Fifth Sun] presents the story of the people and the forces that transformed an ordinary man into a courageous leader. The Fifth Sun combines elements of ancient tomb rituals, Mayan temple dramas and medieval morality plays into a contemporary dramatic structure in which we see a human being ultimately embody the moral voice and vision of his people."
The CD also has a musical score by The San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble and Xavier Quijas Yxayotl. Recorded, mixed, and mastered in Charlotte, NC, it stars David G. Holland, Meg Sohmer Wood, John Xenakis, Brett Mason, Dael Waxman, Sendy Mendez, Becky Brock, Zendyn Duellman, Roy E. Mills, Jr., and Laura Palka.
Patricca is professor emeritus in the Theatre Program of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Loyola University Chicago; playwright in residence at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago; and an ensemble member of the TOSOS Theatre Collective, New York City.
The CD is available on CD Baby and Amazon. See www.TheFifthSunCD.com .