蜜柚直播

Rooted here from before before

An indigena鈥檚 face with a Spanish tongue,

I learned to say American when I was young.

I am a borderlander, an open wound,

Two flags torn and re-sewn, torn and re-sewn.

I am a fear of the unknown.

A third country marginalized,

Neither from the U.S. or Mexico in their eyes.鈥�

鈥� from 鈥淥ne Journey,鈥� performed in Douglas-Agua Prieta in October 2016

Yadira De La Riva is a fronteriza, from neither here nor there.

Born and raised in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Ju谩rez, Chihuahua, she is a proud product of the borderlands. An artist and performer, she wrote a one-woman play about coming of age in la frontera, or the border, weaving together personal experiences, family stories and the social and political history of the United States and Mexico.

Then, she took the show on the road from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, performing her story of border life and encouraging other borderlanders to tell their stories, too.

Theater-less

Life on the border is dynamic and culturally rich. It makes for a special type of people who can navigate two governments, two currencies, two languages and 鈥渢wo types of police,鈥� De La Riva says.

But when she started to discover her own voice in theater, the artist and performer was disappointed to find that border stories weren鈥檛 being told on stage, and 鈥渕uch less by women.鈥�

She started studying theater at the University of California-Santa Cruz, but despite her passion for theater she quickly bored of the Greek, classical and 鈥渧ery European鈥� subject matter.

So she switched to American studies and acted at the university鈥檚 Rainbow Theater, where a diverse cast performed works that addressed social and political issues.

Around the same time, she fell in love with John Leguizamo鈥檚 solo show 鈥淔reak,鈥� a partially imagined story about his life and the hilarious characters he encounters. Inspired, she decided to tell her own story in a single-voice play.

鈥淚 had a mentor who said if something doesn鈥檛 exist then you have to create it,鈥� she says.

So she did.

One journey

Wherever she goes in the United States, people ask De La Riza where she鈥檚 from.

鈥淚鈥檒l say, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檓 from 鈥� the desert land, vast and flat the palm of my hand, brown and rough like my hand when it鈥檚 dry. Why, I say I鈥檓 from long family parties and sun and moon ceremonies, drums beating in the distance.鈥�

But those aren鈥檛 the answers people want. They want to know if she鈥檚 鈥淎merican.鈥�

Sharing tales about her family and piecing together the political history of the borderlands, De La Riva鈥檚 play uses characteristic elements of her border culture 鈥� the music, the Spanglish, the customs and the physical space, including the border wall.

鈥淥ne Journey: Stitching Stories Across the Mexican 鈥楢merican鈥� Border,鈥� was her master鈥檚 thesis at New York University鈥檚 Gallatin School of Individualized Study, built on the foundation of oral histories.

She dug up family stories beginning with her beloved grandmother, who migrated to Ciudad Ju谩rez from Chihuahua City to help her family financially when she was just 16 years old. She crossed the border every day to work in El Paso as a maid.

鈥淪o she was already living that binational life as a teenager, and she was part of the movement of labor from Mexico to the United States,鈥� De La Riva says.

The show reflects De La Riva鈥檚 experience as a border woman.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 talk about the border without talking about women. You just can鈥檛,鈥� she says.

Women are the workers in the maquiladoras, or cross-border factories. They are the victims of hundreds of killings, or femicides, in Ju谩rez. They are the pillars of families and communities and social movements.

鈥淏ut in terms of history or who鈥檚 telling the stories,鈥� she says,鈥� it鈥檚 hardly ever us.鈥�

Women are, in many ways, erased from the common narrative of the border region, says Michelle T茅llez, a University of 蜜柚直播 professor who studies and writes about the border, community and gendered migration. When women are the subject of stories, they are often seen solely as 鈥渂reeders鈥� 鈥� the producers of children who are not wanted in the United States, demonstrated by terms like 鈥渁nchor baby,鈥� she says.

When De La Riva performed her play in border communities, it resonated. Audiences connected to the stories of family across the border; of not wanting to choose between being American or Mexican; of crossing the line to go to your grandma鈥檚 house or the doctor or the grocery store.

鈥淚 probably take more pride in saying I鈥檓 a fronteriza than I would to say I鈥檓 a Mexican-American or a Chicana or Latina. Those are such huge umbrella terms,鈥� she said. 鈥淔ronteriza鈥檚 just a lot more specific to my experience and how I see the world.鈥�

That identity extends beyond the U.S.-Mexico border. Working on a project in Spain and Morocco, she found that her experiences often mirrored those of the women who transport merchandise across the border each day.

鈥淪pain and Morocco, Palestine and Israel, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and so on and so on and so on,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 also trying to expand what that identity means along this 2,000 mile divide for us on the U.S.-Mexico border, but also internationally.鈥�

Sharing the stage

Kiara Morales Diaz steps up to the microphone.

鈥� La frontera no te divide. The border does not divide you. Nos mantiene juntos. It holds us together. This is my Agua Prieta, and this is my Douglas. My home.鈥�

Morales is one of nearly 20 students in Douglas and Agua Prieta who stand on parallel stages divided by the 20-foot fence as they perform original works to an audience on both sides of the border.

The high school drama students performed with De La Riva as part of her two-week 蜜柚直播 art residency with the 蜜柚直播 Commission on the Arts AZ ArtWorker program and 蜜柚直播 State University鈥檚 Performance in the Borderlands initiative.

Drawing inspiration from letters they wrote to each other from across the wall, the students wrote monologues, poems and skits about life on the border and their connections and separations from people on the other side.

鈥淎rt, the best language we can speak,鈥� says Angel Ram铆rez, who teaches high school drama in Agua Prieta. 鈥淭hese kids don鈥檛 speak English, and many of the kids in Douglas don鈥檛 speak Spanish, but they still want to have these conversations and experiences together.鈥�

For his students, just knowing that people in the United States came to hear their stories was the best part.

鈥淲e live in a small border town, cut off from opportunities to work with other artists, or to get attention from the outside world,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t has given them so much more motivation to keep working and performing.鈥�

Social and political theater has a long history on the border and in Mexican-American culture, from El Teatro Campesino 鈥� founded by Luis Valdez in the 1960s to draw attention to the plight of migrant farm workers 鈥� to 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Teatro Libertad, which opened 1975 and performed pieces on contemporary social issues from racism and inequality to the economy and drug addiction.

Performing across the border fence added a new, and special, element.

鈥淚鈥檝e done the play in a lot of different spaces, and I divide the stage in half with a piece of tape,鈥� De La Riva says. Being at the place itself was 鈥渋ntense and amazing.鈥�

Theater isn鈥檛 the 鈥渆nd all be all鈥� of activism and social change, she says, but it can be a good place to start, opening doors for new connections and a deeper understanding of the world, and of ourselves.

鈥淭heater gave me a platform for my own voice. It allowed me to come together with other people, to learn about other people, learn about other鈥檚 histories, to see life through a creative lens,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o if it鈥檚 changed me, then hopefully it can change others too.鈥�