Bless Me, Ultima

Dogeared copies of Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima adorn many a bookshelf, and now San Antonians have an opportunity to see it rendered live on stage. For the next installment of The Classic Theater of San Antonio’s 10th anniversary season, director José Ruben Dé León turns the spotlight on Latinx culture with an adaptation of Anaya’s groundbreaking portrait of the Chicano experience in America. Growing up in rural New Mexico in the 1940s, Antonio Márez must navigate the divide between his mother’s religiosity and father’s aggressive masculinity. While Dante had Virgil as a guide, Antonio has Ultima, a curandera (or folk healer) that comes to live with his family during his childhood. Under Ultima’s protection, Antonio comes of age in a town fraught with conflict, waging the battle of good and evil in the microcosm of his small community.