Playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza thinks that many people in the United States who are against bullfighting have never actually been to a match or spoken to anyone involved in it. Born and raised in Los Angeles but with relatives from the Yucatán, Hurst-Mendoza traveled to Mexico several times over the years and grew to love what she calls “an art form.”
All of which led her to write Torera, a story about a young woman who wants to be a matador but is told that is not for her. The play, about to open at the Alley Theatre, was workshopped in the Alley All New Festival in 2022.
The main character, Elena María Ramírez, is helped in her training by a matador’s son. As it turns out, she’s a really good torera (female bullfighter), better than many of the men who are making it their career. She has to decide whether she will continue or accept what society thinks is better for her to do.
The one-act story is told in three tercios or parts, Hurst-Mendoza said, modeled after a bullfight. Each of the three parts of a bullfight are called a tercio. “In the first tercio it’s all about the bullfighter testing the bull’s strength. The second part is about tiring the bull, weakening the bull,” Hurst -Mendoza said.
“Then the final tercio is the most dangerous part of the bullfight. You’re using a red cape, the muleta, and you’re bringing the bull closer and closer to you. It’s just the bullfighter and the bull itself and this very small piece of cloth between you. It ‘s the most dangerous but shows the most skill and artistry of the bullfighter.”
Hurst-Mendoza (a writer and co-producer for Law & Order SVU, as well as a playwright, director and theater producer) set her play in this world for many of the same reasons she likes theater.
“I was born and raised in Los Angeles and I went to New York for college but my family is from the Yucatán. I grew up going there with my grandparents and my father and it’s very, very dear to me.
“I picked bullfighting because I’ve always been very fascinated by that art form. I grew up going to bullfights with my grandparents and it’s very similar to theater and very similar to going to church on Sunday. There’s a lot of spectacle, there’s a lot of ritual to it. That’s why I’m a theater artist. I was raised Catholic. Anything that joins dedication, devotion, passion and spectacle immediately piques my interest.”
Readily conceding that she understands where the violence in bullfighting can make onlookers uncomfortable, Hurst-Mendoza points to the history of gladiators, and “even rodeos here in Texas.” She insists that the bulls are treated with reverence and their deaths are quick and “respectful.”
Each bull only fights once she said. They are bred their entire lives for this one 20-minute moment. “It is a dance between life and death. It’s very allegorical,” she said.
“The bull is killed in the ring, quickly, because nobody wants to see the brutality. Or the bull can be pardoned by the president of the bull ring. The president can choose to pardon the bull if it’s so brave, so fierce. then that bull goes off to a pasture and retires a lives a very happy life. “
If the bullfighter makes a mess of the killing portion, the audience will boo and the torero is disgraced, she said.
“All of the bullfighters I’ve spoken to, all say they are devoted to this art form. They don’t like to call it a sport, they don’t like to call it a fight.”
Going back to the crux of her story, Hurst-Mendoza says “There are female bullfighters in the world; there’s just not very many of them. I think at this moment the highest ranking is matador, so if you’re a woman it would be matadora and I believe there are only seven of those currently active in the world.”
The reason it’s so hard for women she said, is overcoming sexism in the industry just like other businesses in the United States. Beyond that, she said, “Your body, if you want to have children. Matadors and toreros always run the risk of being gored in the ring. If you get get gored in the uterus you could not have children.” There’s also the question, of course, of dying as a result of the match.
What keeps many people out of bullfighting is the cost, she said. “It’s a very expensive art form. It’s no different than being an equestrian. Each suit is like $3,000 or $4,000. The capotes they use are $500. If you’re a type of bullfighter that’s on horseback, you have to own anywhere from four to six horse on average. So it’s a very expensive art form.”
Hurst-Mendoza started in theater as an actor and describes herself as very gregarious child. “I would hold my family captive at Thanksgiving and family dinners.” Her parents signed her up for acting lessons. She wanted to do musical theater and her grandparents would take her to the symphony in Los Angeles and local shows.
She wanted to be on Broadway as a musical theater performer. When she got to college she was waitlisted for the musical theater program and in the meantime she signed up for a playwriting class. That changed her trajectory. “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”
While there is not a Spanish-language version of Torera, at some of the Alley performances there will be simultaneous translation offered into Spanish. “This is a play about my culture, my family, my people, and I want them to be a part of this as much as possible,” she said.
“I think this is a play that is about coming of age and coming into yourself. It is about family and warmth intersected with sharpness and danger. We’re staging it in the round so it’s inclusive of the audience. And the play takes place over the course of 20 years so it moves like a memory play.”
Performances are scheduled through June 4 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.com $51-$74.
On May 19, 27 (matinee) and June 3 there will be a simultaneous Spanish translation.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
