In the Shadow of the Volcano
by
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Scene three
THE CONFESSION
MONSIGNOR ÁNGEL AND ANSELMO ARE IN THE VESTRY OFF TO ONE SIDE OF THE STAGE. A STAINED GLASS WINDOW CAN BE SEEN BEHIND THEM. ANSELMO PACES IN A CIRCLE NERVOUSLY. MONSIGNOR FINISHES BUTTONING HIS HABIT, AND CARMEN’S SILLOUHETTE, LIGHTLY ILLUMINATED, IS SEEN SITTING IN HER BED, WRAPPED IN THE SHEET.
MONSIGNOR
Sit down and tell me once and for all what’s wrong! Anselmo you are not a man of few words. What’s going on! Just get it off your chest. What’s eating you? I have never seen you like this. Tell me why you have come, that is what I am here for.
ANSELMO
Be patient with me. I’m disturbed by things, things that have happened in the very soul of this family...
MONSIGNOR
I’ve got more than enough patience. Go on, you have nothing to fear.
ANSELMO
If life doesn’t deal a man the hand he deserves... Or what he was promised... I’m not sure if you follow me. Sometimes...without realizing it...a man will take it from someone else, even those who are closest to him.
MONSIGNOR
You are talking about your family as if something terrible has happened. Who are you referring to?
ANSELMO
Give me a minute. Please, don’t push me or you’ll only make this harder. When I turned to look at her, and I asked her quietly if she would kiss me, she answered me, shaking her head, “no, no, no, no, no, no.” She repeated it six times, and I wanted to die. And then she smiled. I knew, in that instant, that she was playing with me. And she said yes, shaking her head up and down, six times. It was such a beautiful sight. So, when I knew she was the one holding the reins…or at least that was what I wanted to think… My God. What have I done?
MONSIGNOR
Take it easy, and have faith. You’re never going to achieve internal peace if you don’t shake this feeling of guilt. It looks like you’ve been playing with fire. What else is troubling your heart?
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About the Book
From the the volcano’s summit, the small city of Aznebup is visible with its white walls and grey roofs floating in a sea of mountains and hills; from afar, it looks like a peaceful little town. Who would have thought that, deep in its heart, there was a tragedy developing that would change the lives of its people forever?
The volcano is a metaphor: An omnipotent witness, sending mixed signals of life and death, admired for its greatness and feared for its apocalyptic power. Rosalbina, Carmen’s nanny and the main witness to the tragedy, is able to interpret the symbolism of the volcano’s messages.
In the shadow of the volcano, the adobe walls of this quiet city will be home to an unimaginable scene. Incest blooms in the nucleus of a family, in plain view of the family’s members and under the watchful eye of the town. By remaining silent and failing to confront the horror, those witnesses create an air of conspiracy and lies that will progressively collapse their established values.
About the Author
Guillermo Borrero
Aside for his interest in the theatre, Guillermo Borrero is a Psychiatrist in private practice, and the Chief of Psychiatry at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Through out his career he has written and produced multiple psycho-educational programs, including a workbook based on a novel therapeutic model called “Reconstruction Therapy” (1998)
Borrero grew up in Colombia, attended Medical School at the University of Cauca, in Popayán, and completed his training in psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, where he resides with his family.
Borrero was a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in theatre (1968). He attended graduate school in the Department of Speech and Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh.
He has written and published several short stories and plays such as “The Museum”, performed in the Studio Theatre at the University of Pittsburgh in 1973.
Most recently he has written several children’s plays: “The Story of Christmas, Never Told Before” (2001), “The Dream Catcher, and the Nightmare of Aznebup” (2002), and “The Return of Azafrán, and the Silvery Song” (2006), recorded in “The Saturday Light Brigade Studios”, at the Children Museum, in Pittsburgh.
Perhaps it is Borrero’s scientific training, or his experience in the world of psychiatry that have aloud him to dissect the festering sickness of the characters in this play. I have personally witnessed the “theatrical genius” that Borrero has never failed to achieve. He is a versatile actor, an intelligent director, and an incisive and unsettling playwright.
In the Shadow of the Volcano is Borrero’s first work in two acts. This play has been performed in various cities in Colombia with growing success, and is now been used as an educational tool, to prevent sexual abuse among children and adolescents.
Edgar Bustamante
Barcelona, 2007