Sor Juana Inés de
la Cruz:
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.
