A Comedic Queer Horror Play Shines at The Days of the Dead Theater Festival

By Jim Catapano-  Arts Independent

Riverside, California, 2010: Friends and co-workers Pablo (Sergio Caetano) and Owen (Hraban Luyat) are in a pickup truck by the woods. They are waiting for their gummies to kick in and for their dates to arrive. But they might as well be waiting for Godot—because due to a secret sabotage, the women are not going to show. And now the pair have their own complicated feelings for each other to confront—as well as, eventually, a very real monstrous entity lurking in the shadows (design by Coyote Caliente).

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Goat Blood is the brainchild of Mark-Eugene Garcia, centering around the Latin folk tale of the chupacabra, a vampire-like creature said to have terrorized Puerto Rico in a series of livestock murders where the animals were found drained of blood. The story then worked its way across Latin America and the southern states in the late 90s. Owen tells a taco-devouring Pablo about the time he fell and broke his ankle on a hiking trail; immobile and scared, he warded off animal predators by warbling “God Bless The USA.” It is then that Pablo references the legend of the chupacabra. With the monster on their minds (and as we learn, lurking among the trees), the two continue to banter and philosophize, and begin to tentatively flirt. Owen mentions a game he played as a teen, where one “dude” runs his hand slowly up the other’s inner thigh, waiting for the other to get nervous and put a stop to it (or, not). Pablo incredulously dubs the game “Gay Chicken.”
“What, your high school friendships never had homo-erotic undertones?” counters Owen, before Pablo agrees to giving the game a go.
They are anxiously but playfully taking their first steps in exploring feelings that neither had wanted to admit to before. But before they can fully embrace the elephant in the room (or in this case, field), we come to realize that not only is the chupacabra in their midst, but that Pablo’s prior experience with it goes far beyond familiarity with the folklore. The creature makes its move, and we are now in a full-on horror story.
Suddenly, we flash back to 1998 and Pablo’s first encounter with the demon, which leads to a terrible tragedy that haunts Pablo to the present day. Gabriel Rosario appears here as the mysterious and intense Mr. Sanchez, who knows everything about the threat and allies with Pablo to try and combat it, using “fear as a weapon”. (Rosario also serves as Fight and Intimacy Director.) We cut backwards and forwards in time in a series of thrilling and dynamic sequences that roller coaster to a nightmare climax (but not without some more romantic exploration and soul-searching along the way).
The production is at turns atmospheric and creepy, insightful and witty. It is not only a gripping tale of terror, but also a relatable, astute look at the complexity of modern-day relationships in the queer community and beyond. The actors, as deftly directed by Rodrigo Ernesto Bolaños, throw themselves into the narrative and imbue their characters with a reality that plays beautifully alongside the old-school horror movie tropes—making them sparkle like the Twilight vampires that Owen jokingly alludes to. It all comes together to make Goat Blood an unmissable addition to The Days of the Dead Festival and to Frigid NY.
Goat Blood runs at Under St. Mark’s through Oct. 26, 2024.