The Milagro theater company’s latest production floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

“En el Tiempo de Las Mariposas” (“In the Time of the Butterflies”), playwright Caridad Svich’s adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s 1994 historical novel of the same title, tells the story of the Mirabel sisters, venerated figures in the Dominican Republic for their roles in defying the three-decade dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Three of the sisters – Minerva, Patria and María Teresa – were killed in 1960 on their way to visit their imprisoned husbands, also their comrades in the resistance. The deaths of the Butterflies, as the sisters called themselves, are widely seen as sparking outrage that led to Trujillo’s 1961 assassination.

Like the novel, the production runs along two timelines: the 1940s and ‘50s, during which Minerva, Patria, María Teresa and a fourth sister, Dede, grow from privileged girlhood into politically conscious adulthood, and 1994, when a Dominican American writer visits Dede to learn more about her family. The dialogue is entirely in Spanish, with two screens providing English supertitles.

Under Christy Drogosch’s strong direction, the Oregon premiere of “En el Tiempo de Las Mariposas” highlights the complex interplay of the political and the personal. Minerva (Yesenia Lopez), unwavering in her contempt for the regime, rejects Trujillo’s lascivious attentions and then finds herself blamed for her father’s subsequent torture. Patria (Paulina Jaeger), the most devout among the Catholic sisters, wonders if her faith can coexist with love and activism. María Teresa (Evangel McVicker), nicknamed Mate, bridles at being constantly brushed aside as the youngest, no matter the context. Dede (played as a young woman by Siumara Samayoa and as an older one by Ana Pardo in an impressive professional stage debut) loves her sisters, but she’s also inclined to agree with the man she eventually marries, who frowns on sticking out one’s neck to any degree.

A single set decorated with flowers and featuring female mannequins draped in white fabric, pink garlands and white lights, beautifully designed by Sophya Vidal, serves as a unifying backdrop for the sisters’ conversations and Dede’s recollections with the writer (Yolanda Porter).

Strengths: “En el Tiempo de Las Mariposas” centers women’s voices with a cast that defines ensemble work, conveying passion and conviction for family and country in every scene.

The lone male cast member, Carlos Manzano, is a chameleon, disappearing into his roles as a suave radio DJ, a staunch revolutionary, a menacing Trujillo, and the driver who takes the sisters to see their husbands.

Lighting designer Dug Martell’s work stands out in a chilling sequence depicting Minerva and María Teresa’s imprisonment.

Weaknesses: Audience members who use the English supertitles may occasionally have to look away from the action to read the screens, which are placed to the sides of the set rather than above the center (choose your seats accordingly). On opening night, the translation sometimes lagged or seemed out of sync with the dialogue.

Takeaway: ¡Viva la revolución!

“En el Tiempo de Las Mariposas”

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 29.

Where: Milagro, 525 S.E. Stark St., Portland.

Tickets: $20-$29, milagro.org or 503-236-7253.