Second try on Sor Juana play still misses mark

For the second time in three years, a Chicago theater has produced a play inspired by the life of celebrated 17th century Mexican poet and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

For the second time in three years the play has disappointed.

The first failed attempt came courtesy of Nicholas Patricca's "The Defiant Muse" - a pretty good history lesson that made for confounding theater. This time, it comes via Karen Zacarías' uneven "The Sins of Sor Juana," the underwhelming centerpiece of the Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival.

The fault doesn't lie with the subject. An early feminist and woman of letters during an era when women scarcely read, Sor Juana was by all accounts an intriguing character. She possessed talent, beauty and intellect, and although born out of wedlock, became a favorite of the vicereine, the wife of the Spanish governor in Mexico. However, at 19, she left the viceroy's court to enter a convent, where she believed she could more freely pursue her literary and intellectual interests. For the most part, she succeeded, amassing thousands of books and presiding over intellectual soirees, until the church silenced her after she criticized a powerful prelate.

History, therefore, suggests a self-assured woman who knew who she was and what she wanted. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of "The Sins of Sor Juana," which Zacarías wrote 15 years ago and produced here in a revised, visually sumptuous incarnation directed by Goodman artistic associate Henry Godinez.

The play suffers from an identity crisis. Its themes - intellectual and artistic independence; the near impossibility of a 17th century woman engaging in scholarly pursuits and the reluctance of a male-dominated society to embrace progressive thought - suggest a drama. But Zacarías undercuts the play's gravitas with manufactured magical realism, overblown emotion and an unwise injection of farce.

A glaring example of the latter comes from several scenes that feel like they belong in a bedroom comedy. Having the titular character - who battles censorship and repression while asserting a woman's right to education and self-expression - huddle under her bed clad only in her corset and drawers while her would-be suitor hides in the closet and an uninvited admirer pokes about her bedchamber isn't just awkward, it's downright bewildering. Not to mention belittling.

Godinez' production benefits from Mina Hyun-Ok Hong's luxurious costumes and Todd Rosenthal's exceptional courtyard set featuring a gorgeous cathedral looming in the background. However, an inconsistent tone combined with some overly broad acting make for an underwhelming start to a highly anticipated festival.

The play opens with Sor Juana (the exquisite looking but miscast Malaya Rivera Drew) facing a reprimand for theological insubordination from her convent's confessor Padre Nunez (Tony Plana of TV's "Ugly Betty" who deserves a role with more substance). The priest relieves her of her books and prohibits her from secular writing which sets her on a hunger strike that evokes hallucinations of her days at court with the Viceroy (also played by Plana) and his savvy wife Laura (Amy J. Carle).

In flashback, we meet the intellectually restless, marriage-averse Juana. She is encouraged to remain at court by the admiring Laura, who convinces the young girl to marry an elderly relative who will tolerate her scholarly pursuits in exchange for having a beautiful wife at his side. Meanwhile, the viceroy, jealous of his wife's relationship with Juana, hires the well-educated rogue Silvio (Dion Mucciacito) to seduce the girl, disgracing her and driving her from the court.

Predictably, romance ensues. Except that Drew and Mucciacito don't make theirs very compelling. Having them banter while Juana wears Silvio's leather doublet and Silvio dons her skirt and corset doesn't help. At best, it comes across as an ill-advised stunt.

A woman like Sor Juana deserves better.