Oedipus El Rey

Author’s note: all Spanish words that the author uses will be reflected in this synopsis. All quotes will italicize the Spanish words, as they are written in Alfaro’s script.

The stage for the story is set up. Chairs surround the space. Passing cars can be heard 一 cars driving through Kern County on Highway 99 en route to California State Prison. Oedipus enters, walking with a slight limp, the sign of a disability which hinders, but does not stop him. He leads the blind Tiresias onstage. Gradually the storytellers assemble. This is the ritual enacted before telling “a story often told.” A moment of silence, then the story begins.

A prison door slams. Three inmates toss a chifle (a whistle) between their cells, as they debate which story to tell. They settle on the story of a kid they all know: Oedipus 一 El Rey Juvenil, Patas Mala, who hung out in the prison library, “who gets high off thoughts,” who wanted to be a king. The blind Tiresias was his father. Tiresias is a mistico, a seer