蜜柚直播

鈥淎RIZONA THEATRE COMPANY鈥橲 PRODUCTION OF 鈥楢MERICAN MARIACHI鈥� IN TUCSON WAS BEST-SELLING PLAY IN COMPANY鈥橲 HISTORY,鈥� read the news release last week.

It went on to say that nearly 5,900 single tickets were sold during the play鈥檚 three-week run in March at the Temple of Music and Art where ATC stages its plays in 蜜柚直播.

No surprise here and for many 蜜柚直播enses, who are steeped in the culture of the music and its lure. It is the power of mariachi that generated the welcomed success for ATC.

鈥淚 knew it would do well,鈥� said Billy Russo, ATC鈥檚 managing director. 鈥淏ut I didn鈥檛 think it would do that well.鈥�

鈥淕ive 鈥檈m mariachi and they will come鈥� is not an old Mexican dicho but it might as well be a popular saying.

The play, which featured 蜜柚直播 mariachis Esteban Dagnino, Francisco Javier Molina, Ali Pizarro and Antonio A. Pr贸 and Stephanie Swift Molina, exceeded everyone鈥檚 expectations.

It did well, too, in its Phoenix run for ATC, surpassing sales predictions in April at the Herberger Theater Center where the three-week production exceeded the single-ticket sales goal by 24 percent.

鈥淚t was the most important play of the season,鈥� said Russo. I caught up with him by phone while he was attending a regional theater conference in Milwaukee on Friday. He said the play鈥檚 success is a popular topic among his conference attendees.

Russo said the appeal of the play was its universal themes of family, family values and dealing with traditions, whether they 鈥渂end or break.鈥� The play also spoke to its audiences, a large number who were first-time theater goers and likely Mexican-American.

The play centers around Lucha, who is her ailing mother鈥檚 primary caregiver. When Lucha discovers an old Mexican record and plays it, her mother鈥檚 dementia temporarily dissolves and invigorates Lucha鈥檚 mom. That prompts Lucha to come up with a idea of forming an all-female mariachi. But women mariachis run contrary to her Mexican-American culture and the wishes of her mariachi father.

鈥淚 do give all the credit to the playwright (Jos茅 Cruz Gonz谩lez),鈥� Russo said.

The success of the play also demonstrated that Latino-themed plays can attract large audiences.

Russo said that 45% in the 蜜柚直播 audience were first-time theater goers and in Phoenix that percentage mushroomed to 67%. He said a more detailed demographic survey has not been done but he believes that many in the 蜜柚直播 and Phoenix audiences were Latinos.

鈥淎merican Mariachi鈥� was not ATC鈥檚 first Latino-themed play. It has over the years staged plays written by Latinos or with Latino actors. But this play not only was written by a Mexican-American playwright, but most of the actors were Latino and the story was authentic Mexican-American.

When Latino audiences see themselves represented on the theater stage (or movie screen for that matter), when they see their stories told respectfully and honestly, they will go to the theater. And Latinos are no strangers to theater. Mexico and other Latin-American countries have a long, storied history of theater.

蜜柚直播 has long had theater companies devoted to presenting Mexican-American narratives on the stage. In the early part of the last century, Carmen Soto de V谩squez established Teatro Carmen on South Meyer Avenue in Barrio Viejo. The Spanish-language theater was considered the most sophisticated theater at the time.

In the early 1960s, Felizardo Valencia, a Spanish-language and Latin teacher in 蜜柚直播 Unified School District, and Barclay Goldsmith and Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, my father, Ernesto V. Portillo, and others created El Teatro del Pueblo, a theater group that presented local, national and international plays for several years at Safford Junior High School.

Subsequently there was Teatro Libertad, a 蜜柚直播 鈥渟treet鈥� theater group in the 1970s that morphed into Borderlands Theater, which today continues to produce Latino-themed plays.

鈥淲e want to see ourselves. We want to see our stories, of our communities,鈥� said Eva Tessler, who since 1994 has acted, directed and danced in theater groups in 蜜柚直播 and around the country.

Currently, Tessler is involved with Teatro Dignidad, a new group that is staging 鈥淭he Sound of Cracking Bones,鈥� in English and Spanish, at the Temple of Music and Art Cabaret Theatre, May 9-19.

She was not surprised that 鈥淎merican Mariachi鈥� did well. After all, she said, mariachi music is popular among non-Latino audiences.

Reflecting 蜜柚直播鈥檚 communities of color on the ATC stage is a value and goal of the professional theater group, Russo said.

鈥淲e have to reflect the communities that live around us,鈥� he said.

Not only to be inclusive but to ensure future growth in 蜜柚直播 and Phoenix where the Latino populations continue to grow.

鈥淎merican Mariachi鈥� should not be a one-time hit. It can be a blueprint for future successes.