Mexican Ghost Story ‘Peter Malmö’ Comes to the Modern Theatre

Johnny: I heard echoes. 
Mona: You heard them?
Johnny: Yes. Or... no. Maybe... It was more like... I don’t know. More like I felt them. 

Think the dead stay dead? Think again. The Theatre Department’s upcoming production of Peter Malmö is a dazzlingly beautiful ghost story where echoes of the dead swirl in a creepy and complicated fashion. This new adaptation of the Mexican novel Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo comes to the Modern Theatre April 10-13.

In search of his father and family legacy, Johnny journeys to a once thriving industrial town on a remote arctic island only to find the landscape flooded with death, memory, snow, and ash. Having limited knowledge about his father and fueled by his mother’s dying wish for him to return, Johnny discovers a legacy of brutality and destruction as told by the town’s residents; all of whom just happen to be dead. 

Directing this otherworldly production is visiting director, actor, and historian Armando Rivera, artistic director of Teatro Chelsea, a bilingual Latine theater company in Chelsea, MA. Rivera first appeared at the Modern last year in Juvenilia’s staged reading of Hugo Salcedo’s Dos Nogales. Students are thrilled to work with him on the show. 

“He’s very open to you making choices and finding the character yourself,” says Nathan Lavoie, Class of 2025. “It feels like a big collab. He encourages you to make choices and play, discovering things along the way. There’s nothing set in concrete, which is fun. It’s very personable with just a 10-person cast.”  

An immigrant’s story 

Bilingual students Valeria Lam and Maya Grgurevich, both Class of 2027, have roles where they speak Spanish and English. For Lam, a native of Panama, working with Rivera has provided her an opportunity to approach acting in new way.  

“Working with Armando…it’s a lot but in the very best sense!” she says playfully. “He integrates physical movement into the work -- being able to portray something with your body without saying anything.” 

Having recently relocated to the US, Lam relates to her character who is simply known as Immigrant Woman. “When I moved here, I was exposed to people from all over. Culturally we are so different. But the feeling of leaving your home and going to a place where you basically know no one, it’s the same for everyone.”  

Grgurevich, whose father immigrated to the US from Serbia, also identifies with the immigrant experience and stresses the timeliness of the story. “Now, of all times, it’s important,” she says. 

She has been able to channel her background into her role as Immigrant Man, “coming to US seeking opportunity and a better life and maybe not always feeling welcome in certain spaces. I feel these things need to be recognized.” 

Working directly with the playwrights 

During the rehearsal process, the cast had the opportunity to Zoom with playwrights Raúl Durantes and Mark Litwicki, both of whom will visit campus to see the show and participate in a talkback co-sponsored by the Ford Hall Forum. “Having the opportunity to ask the playwrights about the adaptation has left no space for any awkwardness,” said Lam. 

A non-conventional play 

The shifting narrative of Peter Malmö can make it a tricky story to follow, which has challenged students to explore the play’s deeper themes of family legacy, revisiting the past, and the aftermath of tyrannical abuses of power. 

Despite the weighty material, Grgurevich can offer some light: “At the end of the day, this is a Mexican ghost story.”  

Lam adds, “The essence of it is like body and soul and where our souls ultimately end up. It’s a non-conventional play. Every person who sees it will interpret it a different way.”  

Tickets for Peter Malmö are on sale now at tinyurl.com/PeterMalmo. Peter Malmö runs at the Modern Theatre April 10-13 with a talkback with the playwrights sponsored by Ford Hall Forum on Saturday, April 12 at 5:15pm.