Cappies Review: Herndon High's Production Of 'Cowboys #2'

By Ethan Edds, H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program

You could almost feel the heat as the lights came up on four worn and weary gentlemen, seated on benches with only their hats to cool them down. Two solemn guitars were joined by four voices, and the men sang and played a bittersweet melody to set the tone for Herndon High School's production of Sam Shepard's "Cowboys #2."

The audience was introduced to Chet and Stu with some small talk about the rain, which for them could easily be synonymous with salvation. "It's going to rain. You think so?" says Stu, hopeful. Chet, played by Jake Swery, and Stu, played by Jefferson Escobar Rivera, were two lost men distracting themselves from life by pretending to be cowboys. They donned boots, vests, hats, and most cleverly, bandanas over their faces. Herndon theatre program aptly demonstrated their ability to embrace the obstacles of 2021 into their performance of a late '60s, which spoke to their creative problem-solving skills.

Swery and Escobar Rivera switched from their true selves to their cowboy identities by fixing their hats, hunching over, and putting on hilarious horse-rider accents. "Well, well, well. I'll tell ya boy, I'll tell ya, they's some dark ones, well, they's some reeeeally dark ones" croaked Swery to Escobar Rivera, hopeful that the dark clouds in the distance indicated cool rainfall. As the pretenders admired the clouds and sorted out who got to say which cowboy lines, supporting actors Kobe Rivas Galdamez and Yaliek Miranda echoed their movements, and brought the franticness of their actions to light. Galdamez and Miranda also provided sound effects, drumming their fingers on set pieces to imitate rainfall, slapping their knees like horse's hooves on the ground, or making bird calls to illustrate Stu's stories.

The minimalist set and warm lighting said everything about not only the physical emptiness of the location, but also the characters' isolation. Two benches and barrels offered an anchor for the players, but the actors weren't afraid to use the floor space, whether lying down on it, pacing and searching it, or flying above it.

Escobar Rivera and Swery's characters spoke on many of the troublesome parts of life. Whether analyzing if Escobar Rivera has diabetes, looking for the Big Dipper, or talking about cooped-up chickens in the context of their own social and economic enclosure, their chemistry was apparent and their delivery was that of men truly worn out by the plagues of their past.

In a heated battle against imaginary foes, Swery wittingly used his guitar as a gun, but Escobar Rivera is struck by a Comanche Arrow. As Escobar Rivera's cowboy alias dies, he stops moving as well. Upon realizing this, Swery endearingly puts on his signature cowboy posture and accent to wake him up. As Swery protects Escobar Rivera's body from vultures, played by Miranda and Rivas Galdamez, the audience could hear the helplessness in his voice and saw his effort drain until he too collapsed. As they lay there, Rivas Galdamez and Miranda sang a battle ballad with sorrow to carry out the show. "It's going to rain. You think so?" said Miranda to Rivas Galdamez before the lights faded.

At one point in their story the rain finally came, and Swery and Escobar Rivera danced around and fell to the floor to roll in the mud. "Marry me, Mud" says Escobar Rivera. But, like much of the play, it's never clear if it really was rain, or just a desperate hallucination. Although quite the enigmatic play, Herndon delivered an insightful and moving production of "Cowboys #2," bringing out the truth in make-believe and leaving us all hoping for a little rain.