April 17, 2008
Albuquerque West Side Journal (from April 17, 2007)
BULL’S-EYE
UNM School of Theatre and Dance play a huge hit with Mountain View students
Retired schoolteacher David Mraz has written many a tale over the years. When son Casey, a University of New Mexico graduate student in playwriting, was assigned to create a play last year out of a picture book, he considered the work of his father when selecting the tale of a young bullfighter in territorial northern New Mexico.
“That one,” said Casey Mraz, “was most theatrical.”
Over the last month, UNM drama students have been performing “Rosario and the Bull,” Casey’s humorous adaptation of his father’s tale.
The bilingual story focuses on Rosario, a small young bullfighter in northern New Mexico who travels to Santa Fe to fight the biggest bull he has ever seen and along the way saves and befriends a burro and learns about friendship.
For the four-person play, Casey added the characters of Alfonso and Consuelo, two bickering narrators who sing, play guitar and occasionally step in to portray smaller parts. He also increased the amount of Spanish spoken in the story, which originally was written in English with occasional Spanish references.
“My original story was totally serious,” David Mraz said of his unpublished work, which was selected by the UNM School of Theatre & Dance children’s theater department to perform during its annual touring production to area schools.
During a recent visit to Mountain View Elementary in the South Valley, the students — particularly the bilingual ones — were captivated by the performance, laughing at both the English and Spanish jokes.
“It’s great,” said David Mraz, who taught in various North and South Valley schools for 30 years. “It doesn’t get much better than that. To see one of your stories actually performed.”
Tour manager Becka Ross said the play selection is typically bilingual, and the group prefers performing for lower-income students.
“They aren’t exposed to this type of production,” Ross said.
![]()
GREG SORBER/JOURNAL
UNM student Lauren Poole wears a one-eyed roadrunner’s mask during a performance of “Rosario and the Bull” by the UNM School of Theatre & Dance at Mountain View Elementary School on Tuesday.
Mountain View Elementary School children delight in the antics of the cast of “Rosario and the Bull.” Written by graduate student Casey Mraz, the play was adapted from the unpublished children’s book by Mraz’s father.