'La Curandera' perfect fit for student of alternate states of consciousness

It's serendipitous that Valentina Osinski is playing the sorceress in Cinnabar Theater 's upcoming production of the opera "La Curandera. "

Osinski, a Mill Valley mezzo-soprano, studies alternate states of consciousness and has an open mind about the v alue of chanting, herbal remedies and shamanistic practices.

She didn't know about curanderas when she was offered the role, so she set o ut to learn about their function as spiritual healers. Curanderas are a Mexican tradition, and their services still are offered.

To prepare for her role, Osinski did an Internet search to learn abou t the work curanderas perform, blending Catholic and Aztec rituals to create their healing methods.

"La Curandera," a one-act comic opera by Robert Xavier Rodriguez, opens March 2 and runs through the month. The production is paired with "Cavalleria Rusticana, " an Italian opera by Pietro Mascagni featuring a dramatic tale of jealousy, passion and revenge.

The casts for the shows includes Bill Neely, Ted Weis, George Arana, Will Hart Meyer, Cary Ann Rosko, Angela Cadelago and Patricia Barboza.

There will be a preview of the family oriented "La Curandera" Feb. 26 at Santa Rosa Junior College's Petaluma campus.

At the preview, Rodriguez, a composer and professor and music conductor at the University of Texas in Dallas, will be present at SRJC's Mahoney Library to discuss the show with music director Nina Shuman and stage director Fred Curchack. Cast members will perform excerpts from the opera.

Rodriguez's orchestral and operatic compositions have been performed internationally, and he has served as composer-in-residence in Los Angeles, Dallas and San Antonio.

His stage works include "Frida," based on the life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and "The Last Night of Don Juan."

The Cinnabar production is the West Coast premiere of his opera, which was first st aged in Colorado last March.

The light opera is inspired by Mozart's " Bastien and Bastienne" and tells the story of an engaged couple. The woman is worried her fiance is cheating and asks a curandera to rid her of suspicions.

Rodriguez infused the show with Spanish proverbs and Mexican folkloric traditions and idioms, with nods to mariachi music and Mozart.

Although the show is sung in English, there is Spanish sprinkled throughout. Osinski is comfortable with the role because she has performed Spanish operettas before and has functional knowledge of the language.

The invitation to appear as the curandera took Osinski by surprise because she had auditioned at Cinnabar a year earlier and hadn't been offered a role. But artistic director Elly Lichenstein was waiting for the right part for Osinski, who has performed many operatic roles throughout the Bay Area.

Osinski has been featured with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, New York City Opera, Berkeley Opera, Opera San Jose, the Eugene, Ore., opera and Opera Theater of St. Louis. She also has sung in rock bands and was a founder of the Screaming Divas.

Aside from her musical pursuits, she studies "energy medicine" at the Academy of Intuition Medicine in Marin County.

She's interested in healing approaches and maximizing human potential, and she sees corollaries between her studies and the practices of curanderas.

"They use things considered supernatural and herbs," she said. "Curanderas are doing energy work."

In the show, the curandera calls the Aztec goddess Tonantzin to assist with her cure. She also uses a rosemary branch as a wand, burns candles and talks about the healing properties of tea and spices.

"You can tell by how the libretto is written she's respected," Osinski said. "She's the archetype of a wise woman."