On Stage This Weekend: “Esperanza & Luz”
This weekend, Teatro de la Tierra performs the final two shows of its production, “Esperanza and Luz.” The play follows two immigrants, Esperanza and Luz, who get tangled up in and end up defeating an exploitive and cruel guest worker program.
The bilingual story features dramatic portrayals of many of the characters involved in today’s immigration debate: a demanding sweatshop boss, creepy border patrol officers, a thieving female coyote, an ambitious journalist, and anti-immigrant Americans. It also includes two hope-filled immigrants – Esperanza (played by Merlinda Espinosa, a 23-year-old Fresno City College student) and Luz (portrayed by Patricia Benavides, a local actress who has also performed in films and commercials.)
“Esperanza and Luz” was first performed in 2001, and in an interview with Donald Munro of the Fresno Bee, director Agustin Lira said he revived the play after the U.S. government decided to build a wall along the border between the U.S. and Mexico. “Of all the plays we have produced thus far, Esperanza and Luz best addresses many of the issues dealing with immigration, providing possible solutions to these problems,” Lira said in the interview.
The show’s themes rings true for the main actresses. With her performance, Benavides said she hopes to convey the message that immigrants are people “who have stories, and are just here to make better life for themselves.” Espinosa echoed her colleague and said that immigrants are “just as hardworking and as human as everyone else that lives here in the United States.”
“Esperanza and Luz” will be performed on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, and on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Arte Americas. (I’ll be attending Friday night’s show – so be sure to read the full story in next week’s edition of Vida!)
