La Celestina

About the Book

LA CELESTINA is a play with music, freely adapted from the 1499 prose work of the same name by Spanish author Fernando de Rojas. The work is designed for fast-paced, flexible, Shakespearean staging with minimal set pieces and changes. Scored music is available to accompany the script but is not required should a production group wish to select or create its own. The work requires a cast of fourteen: 8 men, 6 women. There is also a scene calling for several female dancers, but this could be done with actors alone depending on budgetary constraints. Synopsis: Fifteenth century Spain. Young Calisto, following his hunting falcon into the walled garden of a noble family, sees the beautiful Melibea and falls madly in love with her. Driven by his passion he engages the town’s infamous go-between Celestina to win the young lady’s attention. With the help of Calisto’s own servants, and with greed and passions driving the venture, the old crone brings the girl round to risking a meeting. But matters begin to spin out of control, and all involved are swept into a maelstrom of violence which ends appropriately with a medieval dance of death. While they find themselves in late fifteenth century Spain, the characters, especially through their songs, display moments of a post-modern awareness of their historical setting and of their being trapped in it. Or perhaps theirs is an awareness that they are being depicted by twenty-first century actors. All rights are strictly reserved. Applications for permission for any use whatsoever, including performance rights and public readings, must be made in advance, prior to any such proposed use, to Rick Hite, 742 Baldwin Avenue, Norfolk, VA, 23517. E-mail: hrickhite@cox.net

About the Author

Rick Hite is Professor Emeritus of Theater at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is an actor and director and translator of works by contemporary Spanish playwrights Fermín Cabal, Juan Pablo Heras, Aurora Mateos, Paloma Pedrero, and Alfonso Vallejo and by Spanish poet Irene Sánchez Carrón.