2017 Study Guide
Mojada:
A Medea in Los Angeles
by Luis Alfaro
The Mexican Flag
spanish vocabulary
•
Bruja: witch
•
Chisme : a rumor, a piece of gossip.
Chismosa/o : a gossiper.
•
Curandera: healer
•
El Guaco: migrating falcon of the
Americas. Often referred to as a laughing falcon because of its call. It is an
ophiophagous (snake-eating) bird.
•
Migra: immigration police
•
Mojada: offensive term used for a
Mexican who enters the United States
illegally. For more information refer
to question #2 Before seeing/reading
the play.
•
•
Náhuatl: is an Uto-Aztecan lanugage, which is widespread from
Idaho to Central America and from
the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific
Ocean. Nahautl specifically refers to
the language spoken by many tribes
from South-Eastern Mexico to parts
of Central America. It translates to an
agreeable, pleasing and clear sound.
Vecina : neighbor
Roman sculpture of Euripides
EURIPIDES
Euripides is a playwright and poet
born in the 5th century BC. He
wrote the original play Medea.
He is known for:
•
•
•
•
Re-writing Greek myths
into theatrical tragedies
that explore the darker
side of human nature.
Plots that often contain
suffering, insanity and
revenge.
Writing strong female
characters that are at
times victims but are
also avengers.
Using satire and comedy
within his tragedies.
Luis Alfaro
LUIS ALFARO
Luis Alfaro is a Chicano writer and
performer known for his poetry,
plays, short stories and journalism.
•
•
•
He is the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Playwright in
Residence and an associate
professor at the USC School of
Dramatic Arts.
Alfaro has adapted three
Greek tragedies into contemporary plays exploring the
societal stigmas and
challenges faced by the
Latinx community in the
United States.
Adaptations include
Electricidad, Oedipus El Rey
and three communityspecific retellings of the
Medea story including
Mojada: A Medea in
Los Angeles.
Before seeing/reading the play
1. Research playwright Luis Alfaro. These and other
websites provide information:
https://www.playscripts.com/playwrights/bios/952
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cmgetty-villa-mojada-medea-los-angeles-20150906-story.html
2. Research the meaning of the Spanish word “Mojado/a”
and its evolution. Why does playwright Alfaro choose this
for the name of the play? These and other websites provide
information:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/01/local/la-melatino-labels-20130402
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wetback
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wetback
6. Research traditional roles of women in ancient Greece.
These and other websites provide information:
https://www.reading.ac.uk/Ure/tour/citizenship/gender.
php
http://www.gradesaver.com/medea/study-guide/themes#
the-position-of-women
After seeing/reading the play
7. Research the Mexican state of Michoacan and drug
cartels. These and other websites provide information:
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/new-cartel-announcesitself-in-michoacan/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Familia_Michoacana
2. At the beginning of the play, Tita says that being in the
United States is Jason’s dream. What is his dream? How do
Medea and Acan fit into his dream? What is Medea’s dream?
What happens when you live your life for others’ dreams?
1. Refer to your research on Aristotle’s definition of a
tragic hero. To what extent does Medea fit the definition?
What is her tragic flaw? What does Medea learn from her
journey? What does the audience learn from her journey?
7. In what ways is Jason ambitious? What is Jason willing
to do to achieve success in the United States? What hard
choices does he make? Does he make those choices for his
family or for personal fulfillment? What are the consequences of his ambition?
8. In what way does the assault Medea experienced
during her journey affect her ability to adjust and thrive
in Los Angeles? When accosted by the soldiers at the border
why does Medea sacrifice herself? How does Medea’s
sacrifice affect her relationship with Jason?
3. Refer to your research on multiculturalism vs. assimilation. Which characters are able to assimilate to living in the
United States? What are the benefits for those characters
of being able to assimilate? Which characters are not able
to? What is the cost of their inability to assimilate? Which
characters are able to be in the United States and still
maintain their native culture?
4. Refer to your research on Michoacan and Boyle Heights.
How is the physical environment of Michoacan different
from that of Boyle Heights? Why can’t Medea leave her
yard? What is the effect on Jason and Acan of her inability
to venture out? What role does Medea’s environment play
in her inability to assimilate?
5. In what ways are Medea and her family in exile? How
does immigration and specifically the idea of exile help the
audience understand Medea’s journey in the play?
Bridge leading to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA
3. Research the garment industry in Los Angeles. In what
ways are immigrants taken advantage of? What obstacles
do these workers face as they fight for equity in pay and
their human rights? These and other websites provide information:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/sweatshops-are-fashionsdirty-little-secret-but-they-dont-exist-in-la-do-they-2175796
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/9/sweatshop-conditions-in-la-garment-industry.html
4.Research Medea in Greek mythology. These and other
websites provide information:
http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/bates018.html
http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Medea/
medea.html
5. What are some of the characteristics of Greek tragedy?
Where did the stories for these plays generally come from?
According to Aristotle, what key characteristics does an ideal
tragic hero have? In what ways did Greek citizens relate
to and learn from a tragic hero? These and other websites
provide information:
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/tragedy.htm
http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Tragedy/
https://sites.google.com/site/nmeictproject/home/thetragic-hero
2017 Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles costume
rendering for Medea by Christopher Acebo.
8. Research the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los
Angeles. These and other websites provide more
information:
http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/
boyle-heights/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyle_Heights,_Los_Angeles
6. What abilities does Medea possess that keep her
connected to her Mexican culture? In what ways does this
connection conflict with Jason and Acan’s desires to fit in
and become “American”? In what ways does this connection
serve Medea and to what end?
What themes are highlighted in this production?
How does the setting and style of the production
inform your understanding of the play?
9. Research the laughing falcon referred to in the play as
el guaco. Symbolically, what does a snake-eating bird represent to indigenous Mexican culture? What mythical and
healing properties are attributed to el guaco? These and
other websites provide information:
http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=132596
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ophiophagy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XWGfCpzU-k
10. Research U.S. sentiment on multiculturalism versus
assimilation. According to these philosophies, what
sacrifices, if any, do immigrants need to make to live and
thrive in America? This and other websites provide
information:
http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_
Multiculturalism_vs._assimilation
2017 Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles costume
rendering for Jason by Christopher Acebo.
9. Compare and contrast Medea, Armida and Josephina.
What were their journeys to get to the United States?
How does each react to being in a new country? In what
ways does each woman’s choices bring them success?
What is the cost of some of their choices?
10. Refer to your research on multiculturalism and
assimilation. What comparisons do Medea, Tita, Josephina
and Armida make between Mexico and United States? In
what ways is the love of their culture and Mexican way of
life seen as anti-American and by whom? How does each
character reconcile the division they experience between
old and new worlds, if at all?
11. Refer to your research on gender roles in ancient Greece
and in the play Medea. In what ways is Euripides’ Medea
hindered by a male-dominant society? In what ways is
Alfaro’s Medea hindered by a male-dominant society? How
do Tita, Josephina and Armida work with or against their
gender roles to survive and achieve success? In what ways
is Jason privileged by these traditional gender roles? In
what ways is he hindered by traditional expectations?
2017 Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles set design by Christopher Acebo.
After seeing/reading the play continued
12. In what ways is Acan torn between the old world of his
mother and the new world his father has decided to embrace? In what ways does he contribute to Medea taking
vengeance?
16. Why does Medea refer to herself as a mojada or
wetback with Armida? In what ways does she believe she
is a mojada? In what ways does she not? What is the significance of the title, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles?
13. How does the revelation of Medea’s circumstances in
Mexico and the reason for leaving heighten the stakes surrounding the eviction from her apartment? What is Medea
running from and why? What does her past tell us about
her in the present?
14. Refer to your research on Michoacan, Mexico. Why
might Jason have wanted to move to the United States?
What might his options have been if he stayed in Michoacan? What options does he find in Los Angeles? What actions
is he willing to take to fulfill his ambitions in Los Angeles?
What costs do these actions have?
2017 Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles costume
rendering for Josephina by Christopher Acebo.
17. What events contribute to Medea taking vengeance on
Jason and Armida? In what ways does the story of Medea’s
life in Michoacan contribute to her killing Armida and Acan?
What does she hope to achieve by the death of Armida?
Why does Medea kill Acan?
18. Who has betrayed Medea in Mexico and in Los Angeles,
and in what ways? What effect do these betrayals have on
her? How do the betrayals contribute to her actions at the
end of the play?
19. Refer to your research on el guaco. In what ways is
Medea like el guaco? What becomes of Medea at the end
of the play? What could her final transformation symbolize?
2017 Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles costume
rendering for Armida by Christopher Acebo.
15. Jason says to Medea “But no matter what, I want you to
know your heart is mine always…” In what ways is this true?
In what ways is it not? What does Medea believe the truth
to be?
20. If you are seeing Julius Caesar, compare and contrast
what Brutus and Medea want to pass on to the next
generation, versus Jason and Caesar. In what ways is
violence a part of the legacies of Brutus and Medea? In
what ways is it a part of Jason and Caesar’s legacies? In
what ways does Brutus justify his actions? Medea? Jason?
How do Jason and Caesar contribute to their own downfalls? What other actions could Brutus have taken toward
Caesar and Medea toward Jason?
Members of Oregon Shakespeare Festival Education created the “2017 Study Guide for Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles.” These suggestions were
designed for students and teachers but may be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. They may be used without restriction for educational purposes.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is not responsible for the content of any website listed above.
© Oregon Shakespeare Festival. No part of the “2017 Study Guide for Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles” may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, for professional or
commercial purposes without permission in writing from Oregon Shakespeare Festival Education.
www.osfashland.org/education