Reluctant Heroes

“Raspucho and the Radical Monastic Faeries” is a play that takes the story of Rasputin and applies it to today’s AIDS epidemic in the Latino community. Playwright Fernando D. Castro, 41, said he and members of Ta’Yer Multicultural Performance Collective wanted to show that AIDS can be dealt with through personal relationships.

“The epidemic cannot be cured by big government money, but in the home. That’s what’s going to save us, the fact that we can take care of each other,” Castro said.

Raspucho, who has AIDS, is the leader of a small Latino commune in Venice. He has magical powers to cure others, but he cannot cure himself. What follows is a look at the struggles within the commune over who will succeed Raspucho as leader and the struggles within society about the AIDS crisis. The play also focuses on a young man who wants to get off the streets by joining the commune and his journey toward becoming a complete person, or a faerie.

“The commune is a utopian house created by gays and lesbians. They have created a really magical place for people where they are loved,” Castro said. “The AIDS crisis has given the gay people a spiritual foundation. We lost a lot, but we have gained a lot. We are reluctant heroes with an awareness of who we are, not because we’re infected but because we’re going to transcend this.”

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“Raspucho and the Radical Monastic Faeries,” 8 p.m. Thursday, Saturday, June 3 and June 5 at the Arroyo Theatre and Hunchback Cafe, 125 S. Avenue 57; $8 for adults, group rates available; (213) 259-2423.