ASU MainStage production of 'Bocon' draws rave review

"¡Bocon!" was lauded as "one of the best productions in recent memory at ASU" by the Arizona Republic and AZCentral.com theater reviewer Kerry Lengel.

The magical fable about a 12-year-old, irrepressible big-mouth, or "bocon," who loses his voice when his parents suddenly "disappear" in a Central American country overrun by death squads and desperados, is the second production of the ASU School of Theatre and Film's MainStage season.

Osiris Cuen, an undergraduate Theatre major in the ASU School of Theatre and Film in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, played the title role of Miguel "to plucky perfection,'' according to Lengel. The multimedia production is performed in the round at Galvin Playhouse and is directed by Megan Weaver, a graduate student in the ASU School of Theatre and Film.

Lengel encouraged school-age children to see the production, calling it an outstanding example of theatre for young audiences for which the ASU School of Theatre and Film is nationally and internationally known.

"Although this exquisitely rendered production has much to offer to adult theatergoers, it deserves to be seen by an audience as broad as its ambitions,'' he wrote.

Lengel compared "¡Bocon!" to the award-winning play "The Sun Serpent,'' directed for Childsplay last season by Rachel Bowditch, assistant professor in the ASU School of Theatre and Film. "'The Sun Serpent' told the story of ancient conflicts that resonate through the centuries in a direct line to those that (playwright Lisa) Loomer so fearlessly tackles (in '¡Bocon!'),'' he wrote.

The play runs through Dec. 9 at the ASU Galvin Playhouse. ASU students, faculty and staff may purchase tickets at a discount. For more information or reservations, contact the Herberger Institute box office, 480-965-6447 or visit Mainstage.asu.edu.