Cara Mía Theatre Co. is hitting the road for its 2017-18 season, bringing the culturally significant production of Deferred Action to cities across Texas and into California.
The first-ever regional tour for the company kicks off its 22nd season, which also includes three world premieres and a few cool collaborations.
“My original vision for Cara Mí Theatre was to create new plays with a core ensemble that speak to the here and now of our city,” says executive artistic director David Lozano. “Ready to inspire social change, we will take our one-two punch of ensemble-based plays and our Community Action programs through North Texas, Los Angeles, and of course, right here in our own hometown.”
The politically charged Deferred Action, which the company co-produced with Dallas Theater Center in 2016, focuses on Javier Mejía, one of the immigrants known as DREAMers who arrived in the USA as an undocumented minor. Now, after years in the States, he finds himself caught in the tangle of existing immigration laws, new presidential policies, and the harsh reality of living in the shadows.
Written by Lozano and Lee Trull, and directed by Lozano, the play will travel first to Southern Methodist University (September 14-17, 2017), then University of North Texas in Denton (September 21-23, 2017), and then to Cara Mía's home at the Latino Cultural Center (September 27-29, 2017). From there, it will visit Talento Bilingue in Houston (October 5-7, 2017) and make a stop in Los Angeles at the Encuentro de las Americas International Theatre Festival (October 29-November 19, 2017), courtesy of Latino Theatre Company in association with the Latinx Theatre Commons. The tour is commissioned by Ignite / Arts Dallas.
Next up is Gog and Magog: Two Clowns Trapped in Hell, a co-production with PrismCo. Written by Jeff Colangelo and Hope Endrenyi, and directed by Colangelo, the world premiere wordless comedy (it had previously been workshopped at Cara Mía's new works festival in 2016) introduces us to two best friends whose only hope of escape from Hell's kitchen is to cook the perfect meal for God. They are terrible cooks. It runs February 24-March 11, 2018, at the Latino Cultural Center.
Cara Mía teams up with Dallas Children's Theater next for Yana Wana’s Legend of the Bluebonnet. Directed by Robyn Flatt, the original play by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce and María F. Rocha (with original music by Héctor Martínez Morales and choreography by Evelio Flores) follows 10-year-old María as she goes to live with her Coahuiltecan grandmother in Laredo. There, María is told an ancient story of young Yana Wana, who followed a revered deer to find water to save her people. After struggling with her new surroundings, María discovers an amazing and unknown ancestral connection to Yana Wana, the deer, and the bluebonnet, filling her with a renewed sense of self and family pride. It runs March 23-April 8, 2018, at Dallas Children's Theater.
Finally there's Where Earth Meets the Sky, an indigenous futurism/sci-fi performance on colonization and environmental destruction. Written by Edyka Chilomé, Ariana Cook, and Vanessa Mercado Taylor, and directed by Taylor, it explores Earth's past and possible future through the lens of a hidden matriarchal society. It runs April 14-April 29, 2018, at the Latino Cultural Center.
Single tickets, season passes, and Cara Mía Theatre Co. memberships are currently on sale, and are available by calling 214-516-0706 or visiting www.caramiatheatre.org.
Deferred Action will go on tour later in 2017.
