Olvidados: A Mexican American Corrido

By Elisa Gonzales
Lyrics by Elisa Gonzales
Musical Arrangement, Composition, and Additional Lyrics by Moises Vázquez
Directed by Sara Guerrero

A workshop production presented in partnership with Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble (www.breathoffire.org). 
Made possible in part by a University of Massachusetts Amherst Faculty Research Grant /Healey Endowment Grant.

April 7, 8, 9 at 7:30 p.m., April 9 at 2 p.m.
In the Rand Theater, located in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass

Tickets are $15 general admission, $5 youth, students, and seniors, and can be purchased in advance online at the Fine Arts Center Box Office or by calling 1-413-545-2511.

Before you purchase tickets, please read our Patron COVID Safety Policy to ensure you are prepared. Patrons who are unable to meet the requirements WILL be turned away at the door.

Inspired by the classic structure of a corrido, a traditional Mexican song style that draws on storytelling, folklore, and oral history, Olvidados: A Mexican American Corrido, is a new, musically-driven, theatrical re-imagining of the many untold stories of the Mexican Repatriation of the Great Depression, where over one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were illegally and unconstitutionally deported, or repatriated to Mexico. In this workshop production, we see the Repatriation and its effects unfold through the eyes of four women, including the playwright’s grandmother and great-grandmother, who were repatriated to Mexico in 1931, the effects of which still echo through the Mexican-American community today.

Content advisory: Use of racial slurs, and discussion of a child’s death

 

Stick around after the performances on April 7 & 8 for post-show Q&As moderated by dramaturg Priscilla Page:
April 7 — writer/actor Elisa Gonzales, director Sara Guerrero and composer/music director Moises Vásquez
April 8 — a conversation with the cast

Founded in 2003, Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, a 501c3 non-profit, award-winning, the only Latina theater company in Orange County, CA, based in downtown Santa Ana—the corazón of the county—came into existence to support the work and enrich the lives of Latinas in the performing arts.  And, through its mission @BOFLTE strives to serve as an incubator for voices that have been historically excluded from theater and the stage by providing programming that offers guidance in the art of storytelling.  The workshops bring seasoned writers, playwrights, and actors to facilitate high quality theater making workshops for our local Orange County residents, surrounding communities, online, and at no cost. No one is ever turned away for lack of experience.  Programming is mostly made possible through individual supporters, like you, and the organization’s artist residency of Cal State University of Fullerton’s Grand Central Arts Center in Downtown Santa Ana. Want to help support? Donate? AND Keep up to date? Sign up to our online newsletter. Follow us on Facebook or @BOFLTE on Twitter and Instagram. Or visit: WWW.BREATHOFFIRE.ORG