A Brazilian fairytale, ‘The River Bride,’ makes a splashy debut at the Arvada Center

Strong technical elements and a twisty narrative keep audiences on their toes in the Black Box Theatre’s season opener

After Into the Woods spectacularly opened the Arvada Center’s season, I was excited to check out the organization’s next production in their smaller black-box space. The River Bride continues the season’s explorations of the stories that shape us with another dark fairytale for grownups that explores the essential truths about our shared humanity in a magical setting.

Once upon a time in a Brazilian fishing town, a family prepares for the wedding of their youngest daughter, Belmira (Stephanie Saltis), to the local village boy, Duarte (Brandon Billings). Helena (Katie Rodriguez), Belmira’s older sister, has mixed feelings about the wedding; she feels the groom, Duarte, should have been with her and believes her sister is only using him to escape their village for an exciting life in the city.

However, Helena’s thoughts are redirected when her father (Matt Zambrano) literally fishes a mysterious man out of the Amazonian river, sending her mother’s (Gabriella Cavallero) carefully laid wedding plan for Belmira into upheaval. The mysterious man offers Helena a choice and a way out. Will Helena be bold enough to take it?

Technical elements like the water effects make ‘The River Bride’ stand out. | Amanda Tipton Photography

Blending Brazilian folklore with magical realism, The River Bride is an expressive tale about a mystical stranger, two sisters torn between love and duty, and highlights the struggle to stay true to your home while staying true to yourself.

The River Bride won Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latino Playwriting Award in 2013 and was developed in residency with AlterTheater Ensemble in San Rafael, CA before its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2016. From there, the play has found great success on the country’s regional theatre circuit; it even played at Denver’s Su Teatro in 2018 (where Orta kicked off her playwriting career with her play Braided Sorrow in 2008), and now the Arvada Center opens their splashy and technically gorgeous production of the play.

Director Jamie Ann Romero, who originated the role of Belmira in the 2016 world premiere, does a magnificent job bringing the Amazon to Arvada through incredibly well-utilized technical elements. David J. Castellano designed the set and costumes, and he does a great job with both elements. The intricate wooden set is a sight to behold. Castellano creates a wraparound dock with an extendable deck and paints the floor to look as though the dock is surrounded by water. An elevated wooden outline of a single wall along with a dresser, a stool, and a bed to represent the family’s home on the water. The back walk is painted to look like the vast horizon on the water and painted panels are on the outer sides to flesh out the forest greenery.

The family’s apparel is all appropriately simple given their outdoor lifestyle and has a cohesive communal aesthetic. Moises is outfitted by Castellano in an incredibly fashionable but entirely impractical suit for the jungle. This costume choice is both beautiful to look at and helps visually communicate Moises’ outsider status to the audience all the way down to his overly shiny shoes.

The acting is individually interesting, but doesn’t always mesh as an ensemble. Rodriguez’s commanding lead performance as Helena, the ignored older sister who suddenly finds herself caught between new and old love, is firmly grounded in realism. In contrast to her naturalistic performance, Saltis, Ambrose, and Cavallero use a melodramatic style, and Billings and Zambrano are forced to switch between acting styles based on who they are in a scene with. These different acting styles create tonal inconsistencies throughout and cause the mood of scenes to shift drastically from one performer to the next.

Rodriguez gives a star-making performance as Helena and is effortlessly charming; her tender musing to Moises on the pier about her lost love was lovely, and she masterfully handles the characters’ mixed emotions. Billings and Rodriguez’s chemistry together is undeniably strong as lovers prevented from being together. Billing’s admission of his true feelings toward Helena is earnest and so hard to watch because of Rodriguez’s perfectly devasting reactions. As Moises, the man from the river, Ambrose does a nice job with his quieter scenes with Rodriguez, but his physicality is a little stiff, and his delivery becomes a little loud in romantic scenes.

Katie Rodriguez and Stephanie Saltis | Amanda Tipton Photography

Saltis’s character is quite difficult: Belmira is initially presented as a spoiled, self-centered, younger child, and – while Orta’s writing does tell a slightly more nuanced story – Saltis’s performance melodramatically mines these same beats for the entirety of the show. Zambrano delivers a superb performance as Sr. Costa, the family’s patriarch with secrets of his own, who loves his wife, wants the best for his daughters and impeccably delivers a fitting combination of dad jokes and solid life advice. Cavallero doesn’t have a ton to do as Sra. Costa, but she delivers the play’s soap opera style exposition effectively and has strong chemistry with Rodriguez.

The lighting design by Kate Bashore is immaculate. Bashore skillfully uses colored lighting to help convey the mood of the scene; well-timed flashes of light to create a storm before our eyes; and textured lighting to create rippling water effects on the painted stage floor. The design is whimsical and truly adds to the magical feeling of the production. Jason Ducat handles the sound design, and his music choices really help articulate the tone of the scenes. From well-timed musical cues to storm effects, dramatic rhythmic pulses and water noises, Ducat’s work constantly enhances the production.

Romero’s staging is elegant, and she uses the space imaginatively. She beautifully directs actors to use the full width of the dock throughout scenes and hide actors in the shadows of the set to overhear scandalous secrets. I wish Romero had blended the acting styles together as seamlessly as she integrated technical elements into the performance. Yet, the show is paced well, and its story is interesting enough to keep you engaged throughout. The fairytale’s dramatic climax is a high point; it features whirlwind choreography by Nile H. Russell, exceptional technical coordination and impressive performances from the entire cast.

The River Bride features some strong individual performances and impressive technical elements. Though the play’s dark ending might be unsatisfying to those seeking easy catharsis, its complicated conclusion has really stuck with me. Sure, it’s a little messy and doesn’t give you a Disney-esque happy ending – for that, you’ll have to return to the Arvada Center in November when they open their production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – but life is messy and the play reminds individuals that their choices have an impact on their community, whether they want them to or not.