Espejos de Aztlán; Nan Elsasser and Marisol Aviles

You You The collective roots present your program Spejos de Aslan

Information, art and culture Welcome Welcome to the program Spejos de Aslan I am Cecilio García Camarillo We have two special guests They are Nann El Sasser and Varisol Aviles Nann El Sasser is the founder of the Organization Working Classrooms They are the most active organizations in the nation They are recognized internationally They are recognized internationally They are recognized internationally They are recognized internationally We will talk about the last work of the theater Erie Mundo

Ed Mundo Nann, welcome Thank you, it's a pleasure Marisol, welcome We have two guests Yes, of course, I'm happy to be here with all the radio listeners It's a pleasure to meet you again Nann, Erie Mundo or Ed Mundo Tell us how you arrived at the decision to present this play Did you read it? Did someone tell you about it? The director told it The director actually found it We were looking for a play for high school and adult audiences And he was looking and looking and reading and reading And we had picked a play actually And then he called the next day and said Stop the press as I found this wonderful play And it is just a really, really phenomenal play And of course, it is written by Lynn Alvarez What do we know about Lynn Alvarez? She is a professor of theater in New York University In the faculty of theater

And also written She has two or three books of theater She has received many national awards And I don't know her origin I don't know if she is Mexican or Puerto Rican But her works take place in all of New York Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Mexico Yes Did you know Lynn Alvarez's work? It's the first time you have the honor to represent your work It's the first time I have the honor to represent a work like this And I think that it is a magnificent work Everyone, nobody has to lose it I want to invite them, it is the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday On March 17th We have 10 in the morning We can do reservations at 2.42.92.67 And we have two functions at 8.07.67 And Saturday, 18.08.00 at 8.00 So they already know how to communicate with Anne Alzacer 2.42.92.67

That's right 2.42.92.67 Did you personally like the work or did you feel Well, I have to act regardless of No, no, no, I love this place Because I'm Mexican And I live here in the United States And this place about identity And as an immigrant We don't know if we belong to Mexico Or if we belong to here Because there is a line in the play where he says, Eddie He says, well, back in home in New York I'm called down Mexican And here in Mexico I'm called down Gringo So he doesn't really know where he belongs So he belongs to himself It's tough, huh? Nan, it's the Oh, but I was going to be directed by Mr. Eric Ruffin What can you tell us about Eric? Well, Eric is a young, very talented young director

Just received his MFA in directing from Rutgers University And last year received a drama league directing fellowship It's a national fellowship for outstanding young directors And he was an actor before he became a director And he actually was on Broadway And thought that perhaps it was just too tough a life To try to be an actor So he went into the Navy on a submarine And after, I don't know how many years, four years On a submarine decided that it wasn't so rough So he decided to stick with it And become a director And he's very, very good And he really, really represents to me What working classroom is about It's such a multicultural theater company And he's a young African-American director And he found this wonderful play And he's working in a bilingual production Doesn't speak Spanish You know, but he's willing to Like, that's the culture, that's what has to be

Let's do it And it's just very exciting for me to see what's happened Over the years with working classroom You know, it's hard to say Buenos dias Well, that's a start It's a very good start Do you get the feeling, Marisol, that The director, Eric, is good at working with young people Or do you sense that maybe he's not so experienced Working with young people Because if I understand correctly All the actors are members of working classroom We saw those on home, isn't it? Correct, all of us are from the organization Working classroom Well, in reality, he's so passionate For the theater That shows It's a great passion that he has And he's perfect at all of us So, he knows how to communicate He knows how to get the objective that he wants from us He knows how to say Not as a director who says exactly what to do But he teaches us And through what he knows we learn He knows what we learn

He knows the most important thing We have to present the character of the best way Good, good No, no Not all, look, he also wanted to say that the actors of working classroom are from all ages I don't know, they're all young Ah, yes, there are some There are some so old as me No, we don't know You're right It was very interesting It wasn't always that way, no? Well, he's always been One or two, for example, a mother of one of the young people And now most of them are young as well And one of the actors is the mother of one of the kids who are in the program Another is an advocate of the advocate And we also have this young but it's an intern An artist from Thailand who is with us

And now he's dancing in the work So I'm living in Thailand Oh, isn't that You mentioned that that the play is a bilingual play Was it originally that way or did someone have to work at bilingualizing a play? No, it was, at least the script we have is in English And I think usually the scripts we have are in English or in Spanish and we bilingualize them In this case, Marisol was the one who did the bilingualizing In Marisol, how did you think of that task? Difficult I think that translating is an art Yes So it was quite difficult but when you do something with something you like then it doesn't matter how much work you put how much time you put always when you get a good result like everything you do in working fashion And you were in your house or in all places to make the job decide who will decide what in Spanish and all that

Well, the difficult thing is that we have to look for the rhyme that sounds the same in English and in Spanish which is not longer which is not shorter So in the very short time I have the night in Madrugada and there we were doing it and Nan helped me And did you fulfill it? Yes Yes, Marisol said it's a play of seven characters all searching for how to resolve their individual personalities and dreams with the social forces that shape them It's a play about identity and the central character Eddie as Marisol said is an immigrant who grew up in the United States and then goes home and how to hard his struggle to fit in New York and his struggle to fit in Mexico But all the other characters

are struggling also There's another male character who is the novio of Marisol in the play and they had a he is afraid to show the only person that he can the only person, the only thing he can demonstrate his love to is his horse and he has this whole he loves his girlfriend and he loves his community but he's so shaped by machismo that he feels compelled to screw up in this relationship every time he gets the chance There's another character who is a very oppressed Indian woman and who feels forced to use sex as like the only power she has in the play She has no economic power no social power So really all she has is sexual power

So everybody in the play is trying to there's a young girl who falls in love or thinks she falls in love with Eddie and for her it's like freedom, more the modern world more opportunities for a girl it's like her only escape she can't escape on her own she can only escape by picking a different man so it's everybody in the play is struggling to to realize themselves within the constraint society is placed on them Sounds like there's a lot of constraints over the place Marisol, according to what Nanges said it doesn't sound like it's a comedy No, it's a tragedy I would say it's a tragedy because I'm not going to tell you the end you're going to go see it But there's like some real big conflict real bad issues that concern each of us and we have to find

who we are where do we belong and we're going to be conflict and at the end I don't know if we're going to really solve it Then how long did rehearsals begin and how are things going in terms of getting it together for opening night which will be around the corner March 15th rehearsals began January 29th so we've been rehearsing six days the weeks since January 29th it's a very complicated play the roles are complex we have live music by Steve Chavez and New Mexico Marine Baban so we're integrating that and also since you asked how ready we are, we want to make a plea to all the Meringueros out there we just lost a dancer so if there's anyone out there male who can dance Meringue and wants to be in a play they should definitely give us a call or come by working classroom tomorrow and we'll put them in a play

I would say between 18 and up it doesn't matter up so what are you guys who know how to dance Meringue and want to participate in this work of the time Eric Mundo is written by the Lina Alvarez for the communication with Anne El Sacer on the phone 92.67 but very relevant mayor of the issue of Chinese big macho is you were mentioning the el novio de Marisol is that something that Eddie has to deal with the main character when he returns to Mexico he's pretty much a macho something that he never lost

he deals with it because his own father abandoned him and his mother and he was sort of he ran around a lot and so he feels compelled not to be that way and at the same time he is very full of himself he's 18 and he comes to this village he has a lot in comparison with the people of the town so he does struggle with that I think everybody struggles with these issues and it's a profound macho it's not the machismo of comedies it's a profound machismo of just the naive who is the novio de Marisol here he does what so many good men do which is like he takes care of things if there's problems it's on him to solve them

but he can't express that love except by taking care of things he can't express his feelings and there's actually a line where he says in Mexico, virtue is a vice for men virtue is a vice which is a really heavy thing to say virtue is a vice virtue is a vice your character is Marisol interprets to a lady called Chelo Chelo Sanchez and what could you share with us about Chelo this is a woman who wants to solve the whole world to the nation but she does can't solve her own problems she's been in trouble with Nellith 20 years and she learns his way

yes i know it turns out the town of Nautla in Veracruz and but in reality she in itself has not been able to solve her own problems, she has been compromised with Nayin 20 years, she is looking to get married with her and and she has simply not been able to, she has a lot of problems, then she is looking to solve all at least her, but it is a very strong person, it is a person who knows what they want, nothing else, who still doesn't know how to get it. And this lady of 35 years, Chelo, does she have any type of relationship with the main character Erin? It is the aunt, the lady advice or not advice Erin? Oh, definitely she is always saying that the men here are very much, if they do not have a gun, they have a machete, so take care of the men in Nautla. So, at a certain point, the same women help to prevent the machete or the men. Yes, it is already very seen in those lands and it is already very founded, the base is already there, then the same woman follows the same steps of the man, I think there is no other way out, the society is the one who imposes how it is going to do everything. The society defines its people,

in this edition of her program Espejo de Islam, we are planning with Nanil Sassar and Marisol Abiles, Nan is the founder of the organization Working Classrooms and Marisol, participated in Working Classroom, I think it was for your sixth year, five or six years. She is five years, yes, five years. Five years. Nan, Rufus, your memory about classroom, what are the las metas? Working Classroom, it is an arts community. Our goal is to provide first-rate visual arts and theater to people from communities of color, well to everybody, but predominantly from people who don't get it easily accessible in other places and to help young people create art for and buy their communities. I think it is very important that young people, Hispanic, Native American, African American, in New Mexico get to see themselves

and their work on stage, too often theater companies and high schools in New Mexico basically produce work by Anglo playwrights. That is great, there is a lot of good plays, but I think it is also very important and we can see that from our young audiences, that they just line up and wait for hours to get autographs from our actors because it is like they don't get to see themselves reified on stage or an art. So we create art, different kinds of art for our communities, our diverse communities in New Mexico, we do public murals, we do plays, we have a gallery that exhibits art and we also try to use our talents to make the world a better place in some small way. Actually, on the 13th of this month, there is a group from El Salvador coming up here to do a theater company, which we helped start a few years

ago. It is called Cresiones, and we went down and helped train them and now they have a company going and they are coming up here to do a play. So that is basically what we do and when I say we are a community, we spend a lot of time together, maybe 20-30 hours a week. Actually, when people call and say what are your hours, we say between 2 a.m. and 5 we are on cots to sleep in the back because we basically live there and it is a very exciting creative community. There have been so many highlights for work and classroom, but could you share with us some of the great opportunities that kids have had? I know, I even interviewed you, you have taken kids to Brazil. That was one of the moments that most impacted my life and I think everyone who went on that trip, that was in 1993 and we went to represent the United States at a festival of theater, the oppressed. While we were there, there were eight street

kids who were murdered in front of the theater, we were performing in. So that was an extremely emotional and horrifying experience. We had a group of student muralists who were invited in 1997 by the City of Toronto to start a mural program there. They spent about a month there and they started a mural program that is still going. That was a great opportunity. We took young people to El Salvador, we spent two weeks there working in rural communities helping develop a theater company. We have traveled less weekend, we went to Denver for a world premiere of a play about the murder of Matthew Shepherd that was written and directed by one of our directors. So there's a lot of opportunities, we also offer college scholarships to students in our program. A lot of them have gone on to study. So there's a lot of opportunity in working classroom but it's also a very demanding program. As Maria Sol, I'm sure can tell

you. I love it, it's great. It's a place where I've been long. I think Eddie needs to go for that. Today's Marisol, you're a Mexican. Yes. Where's the district of federal? Chilanga. Chilanga. And to a certain point you can feel with the character Eddie. Because it's from the United States and back to Mexico. Would you say that if it's difficult, that you come back to the country, although you sometimes have illusions that you come back to where you are, everything will be easier. But what is it for you? Definitely, if you come back to Mexico for a while. Definitely, it's very difficult because one comes with an idea to another country. I'm in Mexico, come to the United States. It comes with an idea that

it's a little more closed than life between society. There are two very different cultures. I had to adapt to this without losing mine. Now, if I could think and return to Mexico, I would go vacation, but in reality, I don't know if I could adapt me again to that culture, since they are very different. The customs are more like all family, everything, how I was giving the example to the other day I was practicing, when I arrived here, that the boys were pregnant in school. I felt something that I didn't have a right, I thought that way before, but now this culture made me think that everyone has a right, although they are pregnant or anything, it has a right to follow the education. So if society unfortunately marks stereotypes that can't be erased, and it's how I developed a third culture and now I'm in the middle, neither here nor there, but I'm calm here, I think I'm very happy because working class opened my doors if it's a place

where I could be myself, and I could integrate this new culture, but it's very difficult, I understand perfectly well to the world. I don't know if you had something to add to that then. No, I just think that the play will resonate with so many people because right in New Mexico, I think that migration from Mexico and that experiences, the one we're most familiar with are the one we read about the most, but there's also a huge community of Asian immigrants and refugees in New Mexico, Cubans, Iraqis, and I think that this time, the end of the 21st, the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st is a time of unprecedented numbers of disrupted lives and immigration and refugees, and this place speaks to me profoundly to what that's like for on an individual basis. Why don't we go over the vital information and the work in Seinebura, the Día Miércoles,

Jose el 15, ¿verdad? Once at the 17th, we have presentations at the 10th of the morning, Nays and the 17th and the 18th Saturday, we have presentations at the 8th of the night. Nays, I think you've done a very good job in sharing the art works that you produce to the students and I've indicated that they're going to continue doing the same. Invites to all the students of Albuquerque, eh? See, we do one play for elementary school students every year and one play for high school adult audiences. Next year we'll do three and be the first time.

So and we market, we try to keep our rates super affordable, I think that the cheapest theaters tickets in the city for sure because part of our mission is to make theater and the arts accessible to all communities. And so then we market them directly to schools to try the mat nays. We have a very low group rate and we invite students from all over New Mexico to our performances. Marisol, it's interesting that working classroom, the use to integrate music, not the first time that you're going to present as part of the work to Steve, the Marine Vero. What do you think about this, to have a musical group, in the stage, with the actors and providing sounds and music, what do you think? Well, if we give the actors life in the scenario, the music, the color paint, it's the complement. It's very important, it's the feeling, so definitely the music is very indispensable in the works.

So we've had a lot of the majority of the works, right, they have been with music in life. And then why do you keep coming back to, to, what's your name, Steve? Well, Steve is a master, you know, he's become our musical director really, I mean, he's a composer, he can look at a script and find music to go with it. He has like a world-class collection of percussion instruments, so he does, instead of having soundtracks, you know, he does all of, like, traffic, frogs, airplanes, drown, any, the sea, any, any sounds you need, and he generates them from these beautiful instruments. I mean, they're just, it's magnificent to have him as part of the, as part of the work. And we've also used, other, last year we used, Tonic and Yone San Camilo, because we were doing a play with Santeria and Afro-Cuban music. So whatever it is, it adds a lot, but Steve is, you know, he's just, it's just wonderful to work with him, because he scores our plays.

I mean, these are not musicals, these are not plays that come to be done as musicals. And, it's, natural, that the aura of theater is going to be presented in the South Broadway Cultural Center, and I, I could insight into the South Broadway all day. The next week is when we're going to start familiarizing ourselves with the space, and what do you think is space for the aura of theater? It's quite broad, it doesn't matter where an actor is presented. If it's a good actor, there it will be able to do it well. So in the street, whenever it's art that we can create, it doesn't matter where. And as a 35-year-old lady, it's going to be able to project her voice to the last film. I've been practicing a lot, so we've been working a lot, and we have a master who helps us with vocalization and all those things, to project, to breathe. So that's a lot of work that's been done. And I'm saying that you're going to interpret a woman in a greater way than you. You've been obligated to do additional things, to have certain thoughts that perhaps you hadn't had.

Yes. I've been here for 21 years, and my character has been here for 35 years. So it's challenging. But I feel very comfortable with it, because Eric has helped me, and all of us have been working together. So I feel comfortable, and I think more mature. Just for the play. Just for the play. Now, the work, again, represents the beginning of the miracles, the 15th of March, and continues. Until the 18th. Until the 18th. And the adults can go to the end of the week. Well, all the presentations are open to the public. All the presentations of the morning, we have a special award for groups.

And well, we present that award for schools, but any person can enter. Any person, right? And during the week of the 15th, the 17th, the 7th, the 7th, the 7th, the 7th, the 7th, the 10th. Then at night, it would be the winter and Saturday at 8 AM. Exactly. A challenging play, you know? I think it is a very challenging play, because the characters are very complex. It's not something you can play on the top. You really have to plum your own emotional depth. And I've been watching some rehearsals, and I'm in awe of the actors, because it really requires them to face these demons in themselves to really deal with them in order to honestly portray these characters. And I think Lynn Alvarez has just done an incredible job of this play. She's just written a beautiful play. And you were telling me that it's for the entire family. It's kind of like a tragedy. It is for the entire family.

You think that the focus might be on older, older, or teenagers? Yeah, I think there's nothing in the play that would preclude bringing young kids. But there's a little bit of humor, but not very much. It's a dark play. And so I think that, you know, basically we're marketing it to, I would say, students 13, 14 and up through adult audiences. Do your parents support you? Yes, they always support me in everything I want to do. I'm very happy and satisfied with the support I received from them. They just told me the voices of Marisol Abiles and Nan Alcésar, both related to the work in classroom, an important organization for our city.

They're going to be presenting the new work of theater, Eri Mundo, the world. Starting the 15th day of March. I also mentioned to Nan that they need a young girl who likes to dance. And for more information and for this, for a girl, please call Nan Alcésar to 242, 92, 67. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you for inviting us. It's a pleasure. Lucio, before we finish the program, I just want to make this announcement. Welcome from Mexico, Dr. Marcos López-Torre, to present a seminar to destroy the children of our city, near the environment.

And they're also invited to parents, mothers, teachers so that we all learn a little more about how our environment is impacted. Let's continue the conversation and I'll tell you. Mr. Marcos López-Torre is a renowned author of nine books. It's about the environment. And this is going to end on Saturday, on March 11th. At the 20 hours. What are the 20 hours? The eight. The eight of the night. The other side of English. So everyone is invited to participate in this. I'm going to finish the first outpost performance space, located in the 112 Morningside Drive Southeast. 112 Morningside Drive Southeast.

For more information you can call 26, 26, 63. I think it's important that the organization CARD citizens against radioactive dumping take the responsibility to bring this Mr. Dr. Marcos López-Torre from Mexico to share information about the fields that exist with different types of chemical plants and how they can impact the environment and also our health. Remember that Saturday, on March 11th, starting at 8. And then there will be other things such as reception and a seminar and all that. But you can call 26, 26, 63. For more information.

I thank you again to Nan El Sacer and our young friend, Marisol Abiles. I'm Cecilio García Camarillo, I invite you to join the next Monday, like the eight of the night to continue sharing with all of you information, culture and art. We want to snitches. Thank you very much. Okay, we are back.

Thank you very much. Thank you for letting us know you like it and you understand, you know? Well, we have different cultures or something, but we are all the same species. As Americans, I think we share a lot about the common. There was a gentleman out of town who found this article that I want to send him the props for trying to get a man march the black.

We have something following that, a message from George Lopez. Do you know? Oh yeah, we got another generation, it's a reflection of our generation.