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Nearly 40 years after his assassination, Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara continues to inspire the imaginations of artists and admirers. The latest person to use Che as muse is Academy Award-nominated author José Rivera.
In his upcoming play, "School of the Americas," Rivera mixes historical fact with fiction and hyperrealism and offers an intimate gaze into the last two days of Latin America's most famous revolutionary and the young schoolteacher whose life he transforms while held prisoner in her town.
"I came across a documentary about him last year in Bolivia and they retraced his steps throughout that year to where it began, to where he was captured," explains Rivera, who wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay to the 2004 Walter Salles film "The Motorcycle Diaries."
"The documentary ["The Bolivian Diaries"] gives a little bit about what they [Che and schoolteacher Julia Cortes] said to each other," says the New York-raised Puerto Rican who has penned over 20 plays.
The title, Rivera says, is a reference to the "prison/school" in La Higuera, Bolivia, where Guevara was held and also to the notorious combat training school for Latin American soldiers located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Patricia Velasquez, the Venezuela-born actress and model who is making her stage debut, says that she approached her character with caution but ultimately identified with Cortes, who spoke to her by videophone from Bolivia while the play was in rehearsals in New York.
"We asked her if she had any political interest at the time and she said, 'No, I was just curious. I wanted to have fun.' But he changed her," says Velasquez, who is also the founder of The Wayuu Taya Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the living conditions of Latin American indigenous groups.
"When it comes to political beliefs, I have to be very careful how I handle them," says the 35-year-old. Her foundation was recently granted $15,000 by the U.S. embassy.
"I identify, myself, with the struggle of Julia Cortes. That is really, at the end of the day, why I [came to the play]. Not so much because of the political circumstances of the play but more for the transformation of this woman," she says.
London-born director Mark Wing-Davey says that he had no reservations about casting an inexperienced stage actress to play the lead. "Patricia Velasquez was cast completely on merit," he offers.
Brooklyn-raised Boricua actor John Ortiz says some of his scenes present physical challenges.
"It's grueling," sighs Ortiz, who co-founded the LAByrinth Theater Company, which is co-producing the play with the Public Theater, with Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.
"[But] lying on the floor tied up, is miniscule compared to the compromises and the struggles [Che] went through."
"School of the Americas" runs until July 23 at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., between East Fourth Street and Astor Place. $20-$50, advance bench seating, $25. (212) 239-6200 or publictheater.org
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