August 27, 2001

Subject: Saludos y platica sobre la obra Catedral del Viento
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 03:53:23 +0000
From: "sylvia vergara" <sylvia_vergara@hotmail.com>
To: almalopez@earthlink.net, sylvia_vergara@hotmail.com

Dear Alma,
 
I hope you got my letter by correo. I sent it and is your address Mc Ladden? Did I spell it right? Let me know. How are you? I hope all is well in L.A. Do you have some new projects going? I really liked your card that you sent me.
 
I wanted to write to you about the play. Rosalia Triana got an email from the Museum saying that they wanted to do the play in the spring. Of course I was disappointed because I wanted to do it now before the exhibit comes down. I'll let you know what happens on that. Also, another independant group might be doing it in Albuquerque.
 
I wanted to know if I could have your permission to print a copy of the art work for a new book that I am putting out in September. I have written three plays and I am self publishing a trilogy (all my work is self published). The first play in the trilogy will be the Catedral del Viento. The second play will be  "Marco's Return". It's about a POW from Velarde, a village near where I live that returns from Vietnam. Alot of it is about post traumatic stress. Also, its about how soldiers used their culture to survive in Vietnam. The third play is called Cerenata. It really is Serenata but I spelled it with a "C" because the main character is Cerecita, a cherry tree. It's about agriculture and water issues in Northern New Mexico. I am very excited about putting these three plays together in a trilogy. They were all written at about the time I was writing La Catedral del Viento. I would love to put a print of your art work, "Our Lady" in the section about the play so that people could look at it as they were reading the play about her.
 
I hope the play gets done. It could be so wonderful if it were done in as an elaborate production or even a screen play. The real life scenes could be stark and all the dream scenes could be colorful and elaborate with wonderful lighting and design. I really like your artwork very much. I see your dream world also superimposed over the starkness of the world that we have to deal with. The other plays have elements of that also, although the final play which Rosalia says is not a play because it has no conflict---to me is still a play--its nice to have a story that has no conflict--is completely set in sheer beauty. It is about a very deep love between the water in the acequia which is the man and Cerecita, the cherry tree. The land and the water never want to be separated--its idealic love between them.
 
We as farmers are struggling to keep our water rights so that we can continue to farm.
 
That little girl that shows up in your paintings is so wonderful. She is so innocent and often with butterfly wings. In Marco's Return, she came to--that element of sensitivity and purity appeared probably inspired from your artwork. She really reminded me of your little girl in your art work.
 
Let me know how you feel about printing "Our Lady" with the play about her in the trilogy soon. I've been asked to present my work in Alpine, Texas in October and I would like to have some copies of the trilogy ready then. Also, I am hoping to go to an International Women's Literary Conference in Oaxaca in November and present the trilogy there.   
 
Let me know how you are and if you recieved my letter de correo. Also, I'm real interested in knowing more about the mantle carved in stone that she is wearing in the artwork "Our Lady".

I am really struck by that and want to say something about that in the play. I like the feeling of stone and its strength. It's nice that it's in the mantle. One of the reasons I like to self publish is because I can continue  the editing process. I find things continue to grow and I like that.
 
Write me back, mi Amiga and let me know what you think and how you are.
 
Sinceramente,
Sylvia