Alverez is deeply moving here.Ĭhris Cantelmi, as Matt, the jogger who has a most cynical view of religion and worship and ethnic minorities. Ruiz emerges as a lunatic in a terrific truthful performance.Ĭharin Alvarez is subtle effective as Ofelia, a lonely maiden from Mexico and a factory worker and guardian of a handicapped boy. Tony, The Deacon (Gabriel Juan Ruiz in a rivetingly scary performance of a religious psychopath) is the self-appointed guide to the make-shift shrine.
#Underpass virgin mary series#
Told in a series of monologues, we meet an assortment of visitors to the visionary sighting icon under the Fullerton Avenue underpass in Chicago. Filled with bittersweet humor and insights int the nature of spiritualism and personal faith, Our Lady of the Underpass complete us much like the ‘vision’ that drew so many. Saracho’s writing is rich in character development and motivation. Inspired by real life interviews, playwright Tanya Saracho renders the voices of those who were drawn to that wall, exploring issues of faith and desire in present day Chicago. The same week that Rome announced a new Pope, a woman driving home from work spotted an image of the Virgin Mary on a discolored wall of the Fullerton Avenue underpass. The remount of the critically-acclaimed Jeff-Nominated 2009 production takes place at the 5-year anniversary of the Holy sighting under the bridge. Too bad for me since Our Lady of the Underpass is a wonderful theatrical event. “These Catholics,” a jogger shouts, “They’re like, ‘Look at my grilled cheese! It’s Jesus! Call a press conference!”ġ6th Street Theater and Teatro Vista smartly remounted a terrific play that I missed the first time around. Not wanting to leave anything to divine intervention some pious ladies have removed both paint and shoe polish.Moving, well acted remount is worth visiting It doesn’t take a lot of idiots like Gonzalez to make the world a harder, sadder place. The injury on the faces and in the voices of those to whom the image actually had meaning is sad and rather touching. They were harming no one in any meaningful sense of the word. The devotion of those who found meaning in the image means quite a bit. The image itself means little to me, of course.
IDOT has said the stain was likely the result of salt run-off. Many prayed and placed flowers and candles near the stain. Hundreds of people had flocked to the underpass since last month to see the image. Police then directed the Illinois Department of Transportation to paint over the image because of security concerns, IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said. A public telephone listing for Gonzalez could not be found Friday.īanks said witnesses told police they saw a man on a bicycle writing on the image around 11:35 p.m. The story of Our Lady of the Underpass has come to a rather pathetic close:Īfter a man defaced a salt stain that had drawn pilgrims to the Fullerton underpass on the Kennedy Expressway, authorities painted over the image, which many Catholic residents said resembled a popular representation of the Virgin Mary.Īuthorities charged Victor Gonzalez, 37, of Chicago Friday with criminal damage to state supported property, a misdemeanor, for allegedly writing with black shoe polish the words “Big Lie” over the image, police spokesman David Banks said.
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