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Department ofTheatre and Dance

Stories

Director Karina Gutierrez joins her cast for the curtain call at Cruzar la Cara de la Luna's opening night

Director Karina Gutierrez joins her cast for the curtain call at Cruzar la Cara de la Luna's opening night

Cruzar la Cara de la Luna

Karina Gutiérrez directs this Mariachi opera, a wrenching tale of Mexican American migration through mariachi music, at West Edge Opera.

Karina Gutiérrez directed Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”) with music by José “Pepe” Martínez and libretto by Leonard Foglia, which opened on July 23 at West Edge Opera to critical acclaim. Joshua Kosman, from his review for the San Francisco Chronicle: "Director Karina Gutiérrez, an assistant professor at Santa Clara University, staged the action with virtuosic skill, moving the performers this way and that on Carlos Aceves’ ingenious guitar-shaped set to create an array of distinctive worlds in Texas, Mexico and the treacherous border country. From the early joyous scenes of Laurentino's marriage (vivaciously plotted by San Francisco choreographer César Lino) through the somber final moments, Gutiérrez found an apt emotional tone for each permutation."