Dazzling pink lightning streaks across a dark night sky in June, illuminating the outline of a small wooden house surrounded by tall spindly trees along the Amazon River. Roaring thunder crashes above the clicking of dolphins and sheets of rain sliding across weatherworn docks. Two fishermen drag an unconscious young man dressed in all white with a bandage around his forehead out of the rushing river, bringing him among their family and changing all of their lives forever.

“The River Bride,” written by Marisela Treviño Orta, opens this Oct. 31st at 8 p.m. at the Cornish Playhouse. The 90 minute play first premiered in 2019 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It tells the story of a mother, father and two sisters living in a small fishing village in Brazil, one of whom is set to be married just three days before a mysterious man arrives. The story of  “The River Bride,” is inspired by oral traditions shared among Indigenous people of pre-colonial Brazil surrounding the pink river dolphins that reside in the Amazon River. 

The six-person, fully Latine cast began rehearsals in September, alongside a majority Latine creative team and crew. Johamy Morales, artistic director at Seattle Children’s Theatre, accepted the offer to direct “The River Bride,” after directing “Alice By Heart,” last April. 

In 2019, Morales directed “Yo Soy Frida,” a play written by Israel Jimenez that informed her directorial approach to “The River Bride.” The play was part of Write Now, a new works play festival in Tempe, Ariz., and was the first time Morales had been involved with a production with entirely Latine artists. 

“I was in a room working on a show that was a reflection of my culture and a reflection of my language, and that I didn’t have to code switch or I didn’t have to translate for other people and I could come in and out of Spanish and English whenever I felt like it,” Morales said. “That was one of my focuses in this process—how do I create that sense of community that I had experienced before, that really informed a lot of my artistic process and who I am as an artist, and how do I provide that for other up-and-coming artists?” 

The story of “The River Bride” is about love—between parents and their children, between siblings, and between lovers. The relationship between Señora Costa and her daughters, Helena and Belmira, is a focal point of the story, as both young women learn to navigate their romantic relationships and find their place in the world. 

“It says in the stage directions, in the character list, that the playwright was like, ‘you cannot cast this show based on age.’ I love that,” Samuel Viscarando Ingram, acting and original works major at Cornish and assistant director of “The River Bride,” said. “The parent relationship with people who aren’t much older than you, there’s something really intimate about finding this wiser, more grounded version of yourself. That’s been so beautiful to watch.”

This production of “The River Bride” is set at the “Meeting of Waters,”  in Manaus, Brazil, where the dark waters of the Rio Negro and the light, sandy waters of the Amazon River meet after running side-by-side for nearly four miles—a location that is communicated through dramatically contrasted lighting. 

“We’re playing a lot with the botos, which are the river dolphins, who are this really beautiful, vibrant pink, naturally. So there’s a lot of pinks in this show… We’re not going for realism necessarily,” Lighting Designer Carmen Gallegos, third-year performance production major, said. 

Scenic Designer Amiya Brown’s set contributes to the play’s otherworldly yet lived-in, familial feeling. The dark wooden house, surrounded by a dock for the family’s fishing boat, is full of potted pink flowers, stacks of books and one bed with bright white sheets. A clothesline, empty in preparation for a storm, sways in the wind above huge lily pads and glimmering water. 

Gisela Catalina Feide, a fourth-year acting and original works major at Cornish, dramaturge and actress playing Señora Costa, pitched and proposed “The River Bride” for Cornish’s 2025 season. Feide first saw the play two years ago in a production directed by her mentor (a good friend of Orta). Alongside a gripping plot and complex characters, Feide was excited to propose a production with a fully Latine cast. 

“It’s really important to tell these kinds of stories just to bring awareness that the Latina community is here to stay,” Fiede said. “We are entrenched in this culture. We want to share these stories, and these are also stories of joy. It’s not all doom and dread. We grieve and we cope through joy and creating beautiful moments together.” 

“The River Bride” has three shows in addition to a Halloween opening: ​​Saturday, Nov. 1, at 2 p.m. (a haze-free showing), Saturday, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 2, at 2 p.m. In addition to “The River Bride,” Cornish’s production of “Everybody” will be opening Nov. 7 at 8 p.m., as well as their production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” opening Nov. 14 at 8 p.m.