Check out this upcoming performance of plays written about SB1070.Even out of dispair creativity can flurish.
What: "Performing SB1070 Short-Play Festival," a collection of 12 short works exploring themes surrounding Arizona Senate Bill 1070, Arizona’s controversial illegal immigration law. www.newcarpa.org</a>; 623-252-2772; jgarcia@americanlatino.net
When/Where: Arizona State University West, 4701 W. Thunderbird Road, Glendale, AZ, 7-9 p.m., March 30, in La Sala A as part of the 8th Annual Border Justice Event, and 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., March 31, on the lawn of the Arizona State Capitol, 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ.
Admission: Free; donations accepted.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
PHOENIX — With Arizona’s controversial immigration bill as a catalyst, 12 short works by local and national playwrights and a group of Phoenix high school students will be performed in the groundbreaking "Performing 1070, A Short-Play Festival" March 30 at ASU West in Glendale, Arizona, and March 31 at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona.
New Carpa Theater Company, founded by award-winning Phoenix playwright James Garcia, will produce the 5- to 10-minute plays. The 12 plays were chosen from 70 submissions by a talented array of playwrights in Arizona and at least 12 states across the country. All are centered on themes related to immigration. See below for the final list of works chosen, along with a synopsis and the author’s name and city of residence.
"The thing that’s often forgotten about immigration is that it always involves people’s lives," said James E. Garcia, the play festival’s organizer. "What these plays do is focus on the humanity of the issue and how we at times treat these people inhumanely. Every one of these play is based on the writers’ interpretation of how immigrants live their lives in America. "
Garcia also worked with a group of students from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix to bring a series of vignettes they wrote to the professional stage. Though all of the playwrights bring impressive resumes, most having awards and/or professionally produced plays under their belts, New Carpa is especially honored to present an excerpt from Detained in the Desert, a new work by Josefina Lopez, author of the acclaimed film Real Women Have Curves, which starred America Ferrera.
List of plays to be produced at the "Performing 1070 Short-Play Festival"(listed alphabetically)
God’s Flea by Diane Lefer of Los Angeles, CA. God's Flea moves Carrasquilla's tale to today's US-Mexico border. In this contemporary adaptation, the saintly Peralta persists in aiding the poor and the undocumented in defiance of his greedy sister and the very devil of a sheriff. Because of his goodness, Jesus grants him five wishes. Peralta's choices are strange ones, but the humble old man may not be as foolish as he looks. Directed by Barbara Acker
In Old Arizona by Guillermo Reyes of AZ. A Native American woman pleads for authorities to spare her Spanish soldier boyfriend and allow him to stay in Arizona. Directed by Richard Schultz
Joe Arpaio Meets La Virgen de Guadalupe by Stella Pope Duarte of Phoenix, AZ. Sheriff Joe tries to arrest the Virgin of Guadalupe in the desert. Directed by Alan Penny
Run, Zombie, Run by Randy Gross of Enola, PA. A woman riding on a bus to the Pittsburgh Point Zombie Refuge is accompanied by her zombie boyfriend, much to the chagrin of a bigoted Senator. Directed by Andrew Valenzuela
Theresa’s Story by Sandra Fenichel Asher of Lancaster, PA.Theresa is an undocumented worker who spoke to the group through a translator at considerable risk to herself, because, she said, she wanted her story told. It is a harrowing tale of the violence she endured while crossing the border and the discrimination and heartbreak she faces daily in this country, all to eke out a decent living. Directed by Terry Tess Earp
Western Mentality: A Parable by Robert Caisley of Moscow, ID. At the heart of the American psyche is this belief in "staking your claim." That conflict between ""Us" and "Them" was then patterned by our children’s innocent role playing game of cowboys and Indians, modeled in the iconographic imagery of the Hollywood Westerns – and it is the same kind of destructive "Western Mentality" that now separates us ideologically from the Arab-Muslim world. Directed by Richard Schultz
Freedom Trail by Terry Tess Earp of Phoenix, AZ. A man and a woman sit in a bar drinking and waiting for the man’s brother to arrive after crossing the border from Mexico. Directed by Raynell Gonzalez
EQ