The Clarice’s ‘A Bicycle Country’ is rich with humanity and culture

“A Bicycle Country” showed at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for a week in November (Taylor Edwards/The Black Explosion).

When going through difficult and tedious parts of life, the importance of vulnerability and humanity is key, as is shown in the production of “A Bicycle Country,” highlighting a tale of three Cuban friends and their quest to leave Cuba.  

“A Bicycle Country,” originally written by Nico Cruz, was shown at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center from November 10 through the 17th, directed by Fatima Quander, a lecturer in the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland. 

The play starts with the hard-headed Julio, played by senior theater and political communications double major Alexander Diaz-Lopez, being taken care of by the stern yet bubbly Ines - played by senior theater and dance double major Gracie Guzman. The playful Pepe, portrayed by senior theater major and Asian American studies minor Nelson Chen, tried to keep them at bay.

As Julio recovers from his physical injuries, the three grow closer and decide that Cuba isn’t a safe place to live because of the lack of accessible food, electricity and transportation in 1993, with Ines leading the idea for months. Once they leave, the trio continues to face hardships. 

When the audience entered the theater, they were greeted by a theater-in-the-round where they sat on any side of the centered set. The circular stage was also surrounded by curved walls with audience members, enabling viewers to sit closer to the stage. The wave-like fabric above the stage reflected light to set the mood for each scene. In Act I, there was an intricate room set up to represent Julio’s home with props such as a lamp and a pair of shoes. Because of the theater’s setup, it felt like the audience was transported directly into the scene with the characters. 

In Act II, a boat circled the stage throughout different scenes, showing their journey to the United States. Because of the stage design, the audience could look up and read timestamps as the actors transitioned to the next scene.

Later in the evening…

5 months later…

Quander wanted audiences to leave with insight into humanity and empathy for those who have already sacrificed so much to be in a new country. 

“I want them to enjoy it: the work and the creativity and just the boldness and the vulnerability of the acting,” Quander said. 

Quander came across the play when she had to perform a scene from the same play for her master’s performance showcase. Since then, she’s been teaching it in classrooms for 12 years, including at Howard Community College and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. At this university, she uses it in her foundational acting classes because it teaches students how to read a play from an actor’s perspective. 

“I've found a lot of success with this play that the students really understand who the characters are… whether they come from an immigrant background or not,” Quander said. 

Guzman - who played Ines - was in one of Quander’s classes. She thought that the play was great when she first heard of it, which encouraged her to audition immediately. She connected to her character Ines because of her connection with nature and how she “has so much life in her.” The role also helped her connect with her Hispanic heritage because she’s half Puerto Rican. 

“I also learned a lot from the designers because a lot of them are Latina-identifying people, and so is our director. And so I just learned how rich and layered the culture is,” said Guzman. 

Quander’s grandmother came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in a life-or-death situation because of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. Because of her grandmother’s story and growing up in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, she wanted to honor immigrants’ stories. 

Throughout the play, the production gives several nods to Cuba’s rich history. Whether that be the photo album that Julio flipped through filled with photos from Quander’s trip to Cuba in 2000 to the seawall that people sat on around the stage that’s known as a welcoming meeting place in Havana culture. 

Despite the reason behind the characters leaving Cuba being dark and the journey growing darker as they reach an unfortunate fate at the end of the play, Guzman said that Quander was adamant about keeping the joy and humanity in the play. This even applies to Ines’ final scene in the play where she drowns. 

“We talked about as a character for Ines when she's getting ready to leave and step off that boat. It is not a sad thing for her. She's like going and she's going towards freedom and she's going towards, like being in a new place in this thing that she's longed for. She's just getting ready,” Guzman said. 

The final scene in the play plays a song that’s dedicated to the goddess Yemaya, one of the Orishas in the Santeria religion in Cuba. The religion is a mix of West African mythology and Catholicism practices and Yemaya is the protector and goddess of the sea. 

Quander asked the sound designer Justin Schmitz to include the song to show that although it’s unknown if Julio and Pepe survive, Yemaya was essentially looking over and protecting the characters as they moved on through the rest of their lives. 

“I wanted to have a certain aspect of Cuban culture of Black Cuban culture that I very much relate to as an Afro-Latina being from the Dominican Republic because we honored and have a connection to our West African ancestry as well,” Quander said.  

There were other details in the play that stood out. The water references sprinkled throughout the show pulled everything together, whether that showed in the lighting or the costumes. The characters would use metaphors to describe how trapped they felt. 

When Julio was recovering from surgery and struggling to walk, he got frustrated and yelled out “Can’t you see I’m drowning? I’m sinking in my own body.” More examples were prevalent when the trio went out to sea. At the end of the play, Ines appeared in a white lace wedding dress. The bottom of the dress appeared to be soaked with green and blue fading into one another. It was a great attention to detail designed by Becca Janney that reminded the audience of Inez’s drowned fate while sticking true to her desire of wanting to be married. 

“A Bicycle Country” was a seamless play that dove the audience straight into the characters’ lives through a story of frustration and perseverance. Although the story of immigration can’t be relatable to all, the story of friendship, a love of culture and tragedy can be.