Caridad Svich builds her plays on the concept of collage and she uses familiar images as a point of departure for the theatrical worlds she creates. She notes that "Alchemy of Desire/Dead Man's Blues, in particular, stems from a desire to re-imagine the United States from within: to take apart familiar structures and reconfigure them in a way that will forge a new theatrical identity, one that is reflective of a multifaceted culture yet rooted in ancient, even primeval impulses and forms."1 The comments below suggest both the manner in which she reconfigures these existing structures and some of the specific places and concepts that have inspired her. The links provide additonal information about these sources of Svich's inspiration.
Svich has written that her plays are "deeply rooted in a sense of place."2 She sees Alchemy of Desire/Dead Man's Blues as "a very Southern play" which she has placed in an "invented version of northern Florida and Louisiana.''3 In the script, Svich describes the setting of the play as "an open, fluid space evocative of the swamps of a burnt-out bayou"
Svich says of the play's spiritual world, "I wanted to re-explore the rituals of Santeria, which have to do with exorcising ghosts and living with ghosts in your life. There's a tension in the play as the pedestrian and mundane jut up against the transcendent.''4
According to Svich, Alchemy "began as a play about a woman's grief and loss, but it developed into a work about the community
that surrounds her and helps her out of her grief,''5Works Cited:
1 Svich, Caridad. "The Writer Speaks." Out of the Fringe: Contemporary Latina/Latino Theatre and Performance. Eds. Caridad Svich and Maria Teresa Marrero. (New York: TCG, 2000) 394-395.
3 Grossberg, Michael. "Svich's Ghostly Drama Addresses a Woman's Grief." The Columbus Dispatch 15 Feb. 2001, Features - Weekender: 22.