It started with a simple thing – a $2 latte that wasn’t in the budget. From then the argument expanded into expensive shoes, a brand new wedding gown and an apartment with only one chair.
Welcome to the lives of Alex and Monica, the lead characters in the play "El Tesoro: An Environmental Telenovela." They are a young couple on the verge of getting married, and struggle to have it all while staying within their budget.
"El Tesoro" was produced by the Milagro Theatre for Metro’s Let’s Talk Trash series of community events. Written by Milagro artistic director Olga Sanchez, the play acts as a conversation starter about the relationship with the things people possess and throw away.
Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington introduced the play and talked briefly about Metro’s management of garbage and recycling programs and how the discussion afterward will help Metro make future decisions.
"We are going to be making decisions in the future about how we are going to manage garbage," Harrington said, adding that the play was a way to serve and hear from the community
Monica and Alex’s budget woes are interrupted by some welcome news – Monica’s aunt has offered to pay for their honeymoon to El Tesoro, "the treasure." The invitation reads "It might transform your life," and indeed it does.
They arrived with dreams of sitting on the beach and sipping margaritas, but they found there is no beach at El Tesoro, no spa, no swimming pool. El Tesoro is surrounded by mountains – man-made mountains of trash for as far as the eye can see.
Soon they learned that everything at El Tesoro is recycled – the decorations, the furniture, the plates in the restaurant, even the food. And everything at El Tesoro is free, anything Alex and Monica could want is theirs to take home.
"El Tesoro" brought up questions about the value of trash – questions answered by both the characters and the audience.
After the play, cast members Vicente Guzman, Julieth Maya Buri, Elizabeth Romero, and Ajai Terrazas Tripathi, and Metro recycling information specialist Hila Ritter, held a discussion about trash.
"Did this make you think about what you throw away?" Ritter asked.
The event became an open forum for the 25 people in the audience to ask questions about trash, recycling, and composting. People asked where their garbage goes, and why their apartment building doesn’t compost. People wanted to know if different age groups recycled at different rates.
One audience member said she had read that chewing gum never dissolved – where does chewing gum go? Another audience member joked that chewing gum ended up under everyone’s chairs.
The conversation about reducing trash had gone beyond the old adage of reducing consumption. Sanchez added to the discussion by talking about balancing needs with reducing consumption.
"People want have friends over to have coffee and menudo and you have to have plates and chairs. These are real things we have to negotiate," Sanchez said.
Sanchez, in a later interview, expanded on this internal consumerist battle and how the characters in "El Tesoro" were challenged.
"This pressure to have a wedding that looks like this, means you have to consume a lot," Sanchez said. "That becomes your lifestyle and your goals, and it transcends or overpowers what is really in your heart. The battle for them and the gift it provides to them is the opportunity to find out what's really important."
The play was well received by the audience and most people stayed for the discussion afterward as well.
Harrington said the play was an entertaining conversation started that got people thinking.
"This play was tremendous, it was entertaining and humorous," Harrington said. It’s important, she said, "to get us to all think about the stuff we collect in our lives, how it really has life after our use of it, how other people can use that in the course of their lives."
Performances of El Tesoro are scheduled through May 22.