Jessica Kahkoska’s play has its world premiere at the Springs Fine Arts Center

In Her Bones is a rich dive into the crypto-Jewish experience in the San Luis Valley. Written by Colorado playwright Jessica Kahkoska, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center hosts the play’s world premiere, telling the bittersweet story with profound sensitivity and realism.

Many are unaware that Southern Colorado became a little-known refuge for descendants of Sephardic Jews escaping persecution during the 15^th century Spanish Inquisition. Bones is an intriguing fictional story of the Conversos, originally landing in the Caribbean and later Mexico which became Colorado, and the impact of their shrouded legacy centuries later.

The story is set in present day as a blizzard paralyzes the valley. Mia (Mayelah Barrera) is a first-year college student at UC Berkley returning to her roots at the passing of her beloved maternal grandmother Raquel. Her mother, Lea (Marlene Montes) has concealed the family’s spiritual secret for decades, but the truth begins to unravel itself as the scenes flash from the present to the deep and near past.

As the family matriarch, Laura Crotte (Raquel) commands every scene with her credible portrayal of a proud Abuela — but with Jewish ancestry in a very Catholic world. Every word, gesture and expression captures her faith for the beliefs she holds so sacred. A bilingual and binational Mexican actor, Crotte is making her FAC debut.

Marlene Montes (left) and Mayelah Barrera in ‘In Her Bones.’ | Photo: Isaiah Downing

Mia’s plight

Barrera’s Mia is the glue to the storyline, perfectly embodying the impulsive evolving adult who spars with her secretive mother. She questions and probes where a full-grown adult might grasp that one can get more answers with fewer questions. She moves with ease between multiple sets on the stage, effortlessly steering from the present to the past. The audience embraces Mia’s plight.

Fleeing an argument with her mother, she is snowbound at the Valley’s isolated roadside convenience store with its owner Moises (Bobby Plasencia) — also making his FAC debut.  Plasencia delivers as the wise and grounded Moises, comforting a distraught and confused Mia. Their connection grows as Moises helps her piece together a troubled (and familiar) family tapestry. It is the slow and logical absorption of their shared deep ancestral history that pulls us in.

As Mia’s troubled mom, Montes time travels from young motherhood to middle age with muted complicity in her own hidden Judaism while outwardly practicing Catholicism. With an MFA in musical theatre, Montes’ regional and national acting credits are many and include FAC performances in Water by the Spoonful and In the Heights.

Rounding out the cast is the ever-reliable Colton Pratt, who assumes several characters in Bones. A regular on local stages, Pratt’s characters offer some light comic relief to a heavy show. In Bones, he shows his versatility as Mia’s college boyfriend chatting from afar, to a gritty local cowboy and even a dismissive priest as Abuela lies on her deathbed.

The scenes depicting Raquel’s faith are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. There are thoughtful Jewish traditions and hidden symbols hiding in plain sight. Mirrors are covered in white sheets when someone dies. Grandfathers refuse to eat pork or wear hats at Saturday church. People are buried with their feet facing east. As Mia sees, accepts and understands the spiritual disconnects from all she has known, we see her mature and embrace a complicated heritage.

A heartfelt nod to the production’s creative team, especially Scenic Designer and Producing Artistic Director Christopher Sheley. Thoughtful lighting and sound design pair perfectly with three shared sets to artfully shift the audience from place and time. A projection screen takes us through blizzard imagery to the renewal of spring and the heat of summer. It’s an audiovisual treat that unpacks the storyline with authenticity.

Playwright Kahkoska, who is Jewish and grew up in the Black Forest with an affinity for shadow histories, became curious about the Valley’s crypto-Judaism while living in Creede. Extensive research and a residency at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts resulted in a story that she eventually scripted into a play.

Director Rebecca Martinez was all in on this project. Her Latino heritage rests in the San Luis Valley, dating back to the 1860s where her ancestors forged their livelihoods in the barren landscape. With her own Spanish, Mexican and Native ancestry, her investment in directing this play is clear from its fine casting to its graceful stagecraft.

While the Conversos were Catholics by decree, they remained Jewish at heart. In Her Bones is a heartfelt evening with a message to be pondered: We can hide and conceal but we can never escape what is bone-deep in our souls.