River Bride

River Bride premiered at Texas State University in early March of 2025. It was written by Marisela Trevino Orta and directed by Robby Sciortino. The show was about two sisters trying to find their true love between 2 men in their lives.

One of the sisters, Belmira, is about to get married. They suddenly meet another man named Moises. Helena, the other sister, falls in love with Moises as Moises falls in love with her. However, Duarte, Belmira’s fiance, loves Helena more than Belmira. Helena finds out that Moises is actually a river dolphin that can be a human every year for 3 days in the month of June. If he marries a human, he can be with them forever. In the end, Belmira goes with Moises and Helena lets go of Moises.

The actors in the show were very good about portraying different relationships with each other. Belmira had a different relationship to Moises then Helena did. Duarte wanted to be with Helena more than Belmira. He gave off subtle hints to Helena to indicate he loved her more than Belmira. The mother of the two girls encouraged both of them in their love for the men. The mother spoke to Helena about doing what she loved and if she truly loved Moises, that she should marry him and be with him forever.

The design was simple, but was very effective. The mural of the river and dock on the floor was a clever way to have the actors act like they were on a dock or in the water with just what was on the floor. The coral tree in the back was very beautiful. Even though it was only used for one scene, it indicated that the actors had switched locations even though in reality, they were all in one room. I liked that they only really had one distinct room in the entire set which was the bedroom. Everything else had to be left up to the actors to portray and follow along with.

Overall, I was not expecting the show to take a twist at the end but it was very different from a simple romance play. I loved the design aspects and how the actors had the ability to be creative with where they were in the scene and what relationships they had with each other. The play was a great representation of love with strangers and family.