(Info from press release)
”I like to play with archetypes and assumptions,” Zacarías said in an interview. “The girls are all straight-A students and leaders in their high school, but the two girls who have documents have opportunities that the two undocumented women don’t. I am a Mexican immigrant. I was a straight-A student. I understand these girls on a visceral level.”
“I was not looking to change people’s political opinions,” explained Thorpe. “I want to change people’s emotional relationship to the individuals at the heart of the discussion. I want readers to relate to people caught up in the middle of the issue as fellow human beings, to walk around in their shoes. Then, they can draw whatever conclusions they want about ‘they should be here, they shouldn’t be here, they should have gotten this or that document, they should have done it this way.’ All of those opinions are legitimate, but if you can’t relate to the people caught up in the whole debate, it’s a shallow conversation.”The Latino Theater Company cast also includes Brenda Banda, Oscar Emmanuel Fabela, Saul Rodriguez amd Sari Sanchez. The creative team includes scenic designer François-Pierre Couture; lighting designer Xinyuan Li; composer and sound designer Robert J. Revell; projection designer Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh; costume designer Maria Catarina Copelli; and choreographer Urbanie Lucero. Casting is by Espi Revell. The production stage manager is Alexa Wolfe, assisted by Martha Espinoza.
According to the Boston Globe, “Karen Zacarías’s plays start with the simplest situations but build in layers of complexity and a lot of laughter for surprisingly memorable drama.”As it enters its 40th year in 2025, Latino Theater Company was named to the Los Angeles Times “Best of Latino L.A.” list, and artistic director José Luis Valenzuela has been named the 2024 recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Gordon Davidson Award for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the national not-for-profit theater. The Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. The company has operated The Los Angeles Theatre Center since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. The City, recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its “effective first-class theater center operations,” recently extended the company’s initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056.
