ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT:
Fermín de Reygadas was a mining engineer, astronomer, and poet trained in Spain and England who moved to New Spain (Mexico) in the 1780s. A child of the Enlightenment, Reygadas wrote several political tracts in support of Liberal Spain, a progressive movement to install a parliamentary monarchy complete with a constitution created with contributions from the criollos and mestizos of New Spain, that is, people born in the Americas and of mixed heritages. Reygadas was working in Pachuca, a major mining center about 100km from Mexico City, at the same time as some of the officers who later moved to the Villa de Branciforte. It is imagined that this is how his manuscript made its way to Alta California.
Resource:
De Reygadas, Fermín. Astucias por Heredar un Sobrino a un Tío. Edited by Pedro García-Caro, Arte Público Press, 2018