Lorca goes Wilde

As Guthrie Theater head Joe Dowling pondered a director for the nuanced, complicated and magical script of "The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde," he did not need to look outside of his own playhouse.

Dowling thought immediately of Marcela Lorca, the director, choreographer and teacher known for her holistic approach to stagecraft. And it will probably take someone with Lorca's inclusive aesthetic to make all the elements work seamlessly in "Constance Wilde," Thomas Kilroy's psycho-historical play about the relationship between playwright Oscar Wilde and his wife, Constance, the mother of his three children.

"Marcela has a big soul," said Dowling. "She brings a very real spiritual sense to her work and a great emotional truth. And because her background is in dance, Marcela has the precision of a dancer and the heart of an artist."

"Constance Wilde," which opens today in the McGuire Proscenium Stage at the Guthrie, explores issues of gender, sexuality and love in many dimensions. The play reimagines the relationship between Wilde and his wife, who leaves him after he is brought up on charges of gross indecency for his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.

But even Lorca may find "Constance Wilde" a big challenge. Pitched to adults -- the show contains nudity and adult themes -- the production uses puppets and human beings as it plays with scale and time. The characters meet in a sort of purgatory as Constance urges Oscar to look back over his life.

For Lorca, who grew up in Chile, the play intersects her vision of a world where the ordinary and the magical co-exist. She sees things as overlapping on a continuum.

"We like to separate a lot of things into genres or types -- from theater and dance and opera to our spiritual beliefs -- but they all exist in the same realm," she said. "They contain similar elements and reach into the spirit in a similar way."

Tripping into memory

In this production of "Constance Wilde," the seven-member company has three actors who play human characters and four performers who form the chorus. Chorus members manipulate puppets of different sizes and styles, from human-size porcelain-style dolls to figures made out of hangers. The production also has live music and dance.

"The trip back in time that [playwright] Thomas proposed in his script opens up to a wider theatricality that Marcela has taken and has run with," said Sarah Agnew, who plays the title character. "The music is beautiful, with a lot of operatic singing. There are elements of dance and puppetry, with emotions of the three speaking parts embodied in the dancers."

Agnew has worked with Lorca on every production she has done at the Guthrie, including "Major Barbara."

"Marcela has this grace and a very assured, very clear vision," she said. "But she's also very open to the invention of the actors in the [rehearsal] room."

Nic Few, who plays Theseus and Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which Lorca choreographed, said that she "sets the bar high from day one and encourages you to reach it."

He first worked with Lorca in the Guthrie Experience summer training program. "You know, I did not know that I could dance -- I was afraid -- but she drew that out of me."

And just how?

"Well, her style is collaborative," Few said. "She invites you to be your best self."

Dowling agreed. "Things could be really tense but Marcela has a calming influence on those around her," he said.

Lorca has choreographed movement for scores of productions at the Guthrie, where she was first hired in 1991. She has choreographed and/or directed at the Goodman Theatre ("The Light in the Piazza") and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music ("Pericles"). In addition to teaching at the Guthrie and in the theater's joint Bachelor of Fine Arts program with the University of Minnesota, Lorca has trained performers at New York University and at the London International School of Performing Arts.

She said that each show offers a chance to renew her passion for performance, even as it tests her mettle. She finds "Constance Wilde" inspiring. "These are characters who belong to the future," she said. "In our day, and in theirs, people made judgment about their choices. Oscar was condemned for his love of Bosey [Douglas]. People thought that he could not love him and love her at the same time. But these are people who belong to the future. They were way ahead of their time."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390