Teatro Vivo Teatro con Córazon y Alma Theater with Heart and Soul

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noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:00:00 +0000

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noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:54:00 +0000

Should we be talking?

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Well, I got back to Austin and hit the ground running as I had to learn my part in ¡No Se Paga! and move the show into the Salvage Vanguard Theater at 2803 Manor Road in one week. ¡No Se Paga, We Won't Pay!, opened Thursday, August 13 and will continue the run through August 30. The show is at 8PM every night except on Sunday, when it is at 3PM.

We are happy to partner with four groups who provide food for those in need. They are Manos de Cristo, Casa Marianella, El Buen Samaritano, and The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. You get a few dollars off the ticket price for a donation of non-perishable food. (You know, something in a can or box.) The play, a comedy about people being hungry, is very funny, but in real life hunger is not. So come have a laugh and do some good for those less fortunate in our community. So much for advertising.

But speaking of advertising. There is something that has begun to happen with such regularity that is has become something that we don't talk about but maybe we should. Jo Ann Carreon- Reyes (you know who she is but just in case, Teatro Vivo, Business Director and my lovely wife), Marisa Limon (company member of Teatro Vivo and Aztlan Folkdance) and Karinna Perez (company member of Teatro Vivo and Latino Comedy Project) need to take credit for this. They have nurtured a relationship with our three groups that lead to cross advertising for one another. We carry ads for their shows in our programs, on our emails and our websites. They do they same. We encourage our audiences to see each other's shows.

What? Three Latino groups working in such good cooperation? Well, there is about to be a fourth, Roy Lozano's Ballet Folklorico de Texas has been invited to also put notices in our programs for their events. Which will include a collaboration with Teatro Vivo in the fall of 2010.

We have begun conversations to coordinate calendars a little more to avoid what occurs every now an then, two shows running concurrently. It would be very difficult to make all our shows happen on totally different weeks, but we can at least open a week or two apart and give each other's shows a boost in our programs, emails and websites.

To me this points us in a direction that is not new and every now and then comes around at the right moment. And now might just be that moment. With the city already announcing that cuts will be coming for arts funding (which to me always translates into "the groups that are trying to reach those underserved audiences will be cut"), we need a "strength in numbers" approach. The idea is to form a group of Latino arts groups and individual artists. Yes, yes, it has been done before, but one element that is present now that perhaps wasn't there in the past is "maturity" and knowledge that we are not fighting over the same enchilada anymore. Our audiences have expanded greatly and they are diverse. We have discovered our own art forms and they are all unique.

It is no coincidence that the Opera, the Ballet, Symphony and Zachary Scott are courting the influential Latinos to be on their boards. And it is no coincidence that those Latinos are accepting. Our small groups cannot compete with the social status that those groups guarantee. I mean let's face it. If Teatro Vivo has a good run, in three weeks we may bring in 1500 people for one of our shows. The Opera on one night can bring in 2400 at the new Dell Theater. So when will Teatro Vivo be able to compete with that? Maybe someday.

But with a coalition of Latino groups and individuals, we can begin to compete with them immediately. Roen Salina's Aztlan performance at the Dell was wonderful and played to, in my estimation, 500 people. When we were at the Rollins Theatre also at the Long Center, we sold out the house for 6 performances (almost 1000 people in one week). They begin to add up don't they? So for right now, let's keep sharing our publicity and maybe we can share a beer or coffee and just begin to plant some seeds. After all gardening is one of my favorite things to do.

And now this:

Roy Lozano's Ballet Folklorico de Texas at Zilker Park Saturday August 29 @ 8 pm Free performance!

The LCP presents "El Channel", an all-new, hilarious sketch comedy show. Two Weekends Only! Fridays & Saturdays August 21-29 @ 8PM & 10:15pm

Wild Things in the Hood

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Sitting in the Sul Ross University main library, staring out the window at the surrounding mountains (dominated by the one named Twin Peaks) I decided to take a break from writing "Petra's Regalo" and reminisce on my past week here.
First, as I look out, I wish someone would do something about the f*#$%ing McDonald's sign. It sticks way up and messes up any picture you want to take of the surrounding mountains and Alpine. (Sound of clearing throat)
Second, the energy, passion and enthusiasm that greeted Jojanie Segura and myself has not subsided. That's good! No, great! I am also excited that tonight will be our second day on the set at the outdoor Kokernot Theater, with costumes no less.
I have also started making a list of animals that I have encountered and I feel like a field biologist right now. Here is the list:
1. One roadrunner with a small mouse in its beak
2. Four-foot shiny brown snake
3. One very large javelina that darted in front of my car around 10:30 pm about two blocks from my home and 3 blocks from downtown Alpine
4. One very dead javelina on the way to Odessa
5. Two large mule ear deer running through a yard during Jo Ann's and my morning walk (again about 2 blocks from our Alpine residence)
6. A skunk that I only smelled in my back yard but he was very, very close
7. A mockingbird that has a 6:00 AM alarm clock that goes off every day, on time, and he knows a million different songs
8. Hummingbirds galore
9. A fox I missed the other day at the theater that appeared on stage right as I waited on stage left
10. And last but not least, a small creature, black with four white paws that ran across the road last night around 1:00 AM. It looked like a small dog, but with a short neck, no tail, and very short legs. Luckily Jojanie was with me so that I know I wasn't seeing things. I have been here just one week. I expect to see a chupacabra and el cucui next week. Maybe that little fluffy animal I saw last night was a baby one.
Okay back to theater stuff, the reason you are reading this anyway. I am going to hold back talking about my theater experience in Alpine until it is complete on Aug. 2. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Theater of the Big Bend is producing my play, "Petra's Sueño" from July 17 - August 2. I am performing the role of Chano and Jojanie is playing Petra.
What I want to talk to you about today is the responsibility of theater artists to create more theater artists. Is there one? I think there is. I mean, who is going to make more of us? The public schools? Well, some of them might. But are these students Latino students? Usually not. Public schools with strong theater programs usually do not have large minority enrollment unless they are in the Valley or El Paso. And I do know of a strong theater program in the Valley.
How about the universities and colleges? Does anyone know of a college theater program that specializes in creating Latino writer, actors, designers, and producers? One could argue that creating Theater Artists first is more important. But why not give them a focus? Sul Ross actually is moving in that direction. They are producing two bilingual shows annually right now. They are making that kind of commitment. But this is just one. So my point would be that the ones who are doing theater now bear some responsibility to create more of us.
I want to propose that we take time to talk to those young people (and not so young people) about the importance of theater in our society, in our culture. Tell them about shows that are coming up. Invite them to the theater and then help them get there. When they get there make an extra effort to get them to meet the actors either before or after the show. Give them a tour of the stage, showing them the guts of the "sausage". Which I think, unlike sausage, will let them enjoy even more what they are experiencing if they see how it is made.
Who is telling our stories? Television? Movies? Who is doing critical self-examination of who we are, where we came from and where we are going? Who is looking at us as we grow as a population and the impact we are having in America? Our customs, our language, our food are spreading everywhere, but is the spread of our culture making us, Latinos, better off? We still have the highest teen pregnancy rates. We still have the highest dropout rates. And we probably still enlist in the military at high rates in proportion to our numbers trying to earn a living.
Theater is flexible and can quickly look at issues that are helping define who we are to both ourselves and those look and watching us. This does not mean that we sugar coat our theater. Theater is best when it does look critically, with a strong point of view at an issue. It is up to the audience to digest this. We are and should be teachers. Coming to the theater is like giving a person a fish. Taking a small step by involving them when they get there is like teaching them to fish.
All these animals above lived in this region long before there was an Alpine I would imagine that after people arrived here they thinned them out a bit. Now they are returning. And I as I said earlier, some, like the fox are starting to take in the local theater. Then there are the stars. I remember as a child taking a blanket out into the yard and lying down to look at the stars. Yes, just a mere 10 miles from Austin, you could see the Milky Way all the way across the sky. Guess what? In Alpine you still can.
-Rupert
http://www.teatrovivo.org

Chicano Theater Alive in Alpine TX

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Chicano Theater Alive in Alpine TX

When I arrived in Alpine, Texas this past Sunday, one of the first things that my host said to me was, "I got t-shirts for you." This would be the third one that I have received from Dona Roman, director of The Theater of the Big Bend. Additionally, this will be the third year that they have produced one of my plays. But this t-shirt was different. It was black with a skull in grey, almost invisible, with the words Chicano Theater in big white letter on the front. It was a phrase that I had not seen nor heard in a while. The skull struck me as apropos: Chicano Theater is a phrase whose meaning had been nearly dead to me for a while.
When I first heard the phrase Chicano theater, it was tied to a movement that included many different people and disciplines. I honestly would have a hard time trying to give you a history of the word and the movement, but for me, being a theater artist, it was easy to define it back then. Chicano theater was street theater, Guerilla Theater, Farm Worker Theater, political theater, theater for social change. It was done by people who were more interested in changing society than changing costumes or being good actors, writers, or theater artists. And that was fine for a while. Then two things happened to me that changed the way that I defined "Chicano theater".
One was the realization that our audiences were the same show after show. When we performed in LA, the SF and SD audiences would be there. When we performed in SD, the LA and SF audiences would be there, etc. etc. There was positive side to this: great parties. But the negative side was that we were beginning to stagnate. We were not growing our audiences so our message was becoming redundant. We wanted the message to reach larger audiences. So most of us stopped doing theater and became politicians, teachers, or lawyers or we worked to make the message stronger.
It took us some time to realize that what we really needed was to strengthen the messengers. The message has not changed that much or not at all. There still exists racism, job and educational discrimination, sexism, worker exploitation, poverty, and on and on. The Supreme Court ruled recently that white firefighters had been discriminated against by their city in promotional practices. I thought I had it bad, but when white people are being discriminated against, then no one is safe. Oh, wait, we have never been safe from discrimination (I know a lot of my people who think these are things of the past.)
Back to the message. We soon realized that strong writing, excellent acting, and creative directing only strengthened the message. That it was okay to write about things that weren't 100% political. This really didn't mean we stopped being Chicano theater; it meant that we began to grow beyond our identity as a group of committed people who just wanted to use a play as a vehicle for their cause. And who didn't mind if that vehicle was ever maintained or even ran again.
Second, we realized that the word Chicano was beginning to limit our thinking. It seemed to isolate us in a world where our Mexican heritage was separated from our Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central, South American, African, and European brothers and sisters. There was a shared language, culture that begged to be included in our thinking. It occurred to me personally that I had always been told that I was a minority in America. Then with a change of thinking, I suddenly belonged to the majority. I let Chicano go.
So here I was staring at a t-shirt. Wondering why they hadn't put my play's name on it. (Am I revealing too much about myself?) What I didn't know was that in a moment I was about to undergo another change.
The first cast activity for the production in Alpine was a potluck lunch to introduce Jojanie Segura and me to the rest of the group. This was to happen within an hour of getting my t-shirt. This group had already begun rehearsals and we were to join them for the last two weeks before our opening. The energy in the room was amazing. Here were seven amazing actors. Excited to be meeting us, excited to be getting ready for the last weeks of rehearsals, excited to be bring what they called "Chicano theater" to their community. A theater that they related to, a theater that spoke to their parents. It seems that the groundwork that has been laid for the past two years is now paying off. This group of actors is solid. They are talented and dedicated to their craft. So something old can be new again. Chicano theater has been reborn here. I too have joined in this energy and can't wait for opening night. They are at the same point I was years ago.
An added note, Dr. Jorge Huerta was one of the if not the biggest influence on me in regard to "Chicano Theater". He is going to be here next week to meet with the actors in "Petra's Sueño". I had thought that my style of theater would die with me, but suddenly it looks like it just might be given a fresh start.

Rupert Reyes

All It Took Was Cinderella - Reason #2 Why I do theater

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:06:00 +0000

I used to dream that I was in the audience of some sort of performance, a play. The light was dim and the edges of the picture were fuzzy like I was looking through a dirty window that had been wiped clean to allow me to look in, only the image in the center was clear. The dream was in color. A red figure danced on a raised stage. Rudimentary lights illuminated him as he danced a clumsy dance with his pitchfork. It was silent. No music, no dialogue, not even the crowd noise. Silent.

Several years ago I was directing the revival of the local "Pastorela" and I had invited my dad and my mom to attend. It was then that he told me.
"You know that your grandfather used to play a devil in the "Pastorela" that they would do in Elgin, Texas. But he couldn't read. So your Grandmother would read his lines to him and he would memorize them that way."
Then I realized that my dream had not been a dream at all but a memory. Both my mom and my dad had roots in Elgin. My family attended many functions in Elgin when I was growing up, all of them having to do with the local Catholic Church. We would go to the "jamaicas" or church festivals. And during the holy days, Masses were held in Elgin since they had the bigger church. (I remember the midnight Masses at Christmas even though I was usually asleep within minutes.) So theater was more in my blood than I realized. Perhaps I am merely continuing the Reyes tradition.
But this is not the moment that I can pinpoint that made me want to do theater. That moment came when I was in elementary school. I will share with you what I remember.
We boarded buses in Manor one morning for a field trip to Austin. I don't even remember being told what it was but it didn't matter. We could be taking a friend to a dairy to watch cows being milked and I would have been excited. We were taken to the Municipal Auditorium, later named the Palmer Auditorium, and now the newly remodeled Long Center on Lady Bird Lake. We were ushered in and then the curtains opened.
It was beautiful. There was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen. The set for the children's play, Cinderella stood before me, but again, the only details that I can remember, and the one that has made the most impact was the grand staircase.
Now let me digress a little but quickly. We were one of the first groups in the Rollins Theater at the new Long Center when it opened. The Austin Lyric Opera was performing "Cinderella". If you haven't been to the Long Center, they have monitors all over, showing what is going on in each of the theaters. As I walked past one, I froze. There was the staircase, on the same stage, and it was almost identical to the one I remembered as a child. It sent chills down my spine. Okay, back to my story.
When the clock begins to strike midnight, Cinderella made her dash down the stairs. The prince followed and stood in down stage center. Where oh where had she gone? Then, from stage left, a glass slipper comes sliding in. The house shook from all the laughter. And the actor played it perfectly. Yes it was corny but it worked for all the kids in the audience. It is here that my mind took a snapshot. This image, taken almost 50 years ago, still remains sharp and fresh. That laughter is what I try to create, the images people see when they come to a Teatro Vivo show, I hope is imprinted forever in the minds of my audiences. And I hope that the laughter that I heard one day, coming from a child in our audience, will create just as much theater as I have tried to since Cinderella lost her shoe when I was a child.

The Spirit and the Soul in Theater 6.23.09

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:24:00 +0000

For years I have enjoyed boggling minds and baiting my friends with the question: "What is the difference between the soul and the spirit?" I have yet to get an answer that is really satisfying until recently. I did reach a little peace (but really will never know when I get the answer, if there is one) when I distilled it to this: the spirit is to the soul as the flesh is the body.

Here we could begin a lifelong discussion about souls, spirits, life, death, etc. But we won't. Instead we'll move on to talk about theater, which is probably why you're reading this anyway. I tend to connect discussions of spirit, soul, and theater because the theater is my temple, the stage the altar. It is here that I "nourish" my spirit to strengthen my soul. And it is here that I commune with God.

Obviously I am not an atheist. I am not a churchgoer either. Yet when I walk into a theater, I do so with the same reverence that you would enter any place of worship. I wish they would place some water at the entrance to cleanse one's feet prior to entering. Of course all they usually do is place a wastebasket for the empty coke cans, chip wrappers or programs to be deposited after the show. And that's important, that's important.

I like being the first to enter the theater when we are preparing for a show. I enjoy walking into the empty space that is just a venue at first, but will soon be transformed into a living room, a park, a desert, and any place you can imagine. What a wonderful space that is. I usually lie on my back, close my eyes and do a yoga corpse pose to listen to the sounds this wonderful space makes. How many different shows have been here, how many different audiences have laughed, cried, cheered or remained silent (at the wrong time) in this space.

I believe that some of that energy, that spirit remains in these spaces. Not as ghosts, but as a sum of the hard work, the love, the passion, the paint on the floor, and the gouges from the dropped props that were brought into the space by many, many actors, designers and crews. These are the marks, the "sum" of what has been created here. Some great works, some not so great works, (but is the passion, the love, and the hard work any less? I think not.) So lying on the floor puts me, in my own way, in contact with the past, as I prepare for the future.

Then the designers arrive with their crews. The lights are moved and positioned, the scenery unloaded, assembled and painted, the props and costumes, and the sound cues are played for the first time, adjusting their levels. The place has come to life. The spirits are present.

Later, the actors add their presence and their souls to the mixture. Voices trying to establish themselves in the space that at one time belonged to other voices. All of the above being done in preparation for one last piece of the ritual; the audience.

I love audiences. They are different every night. No matter how many they may be, they become one as the curtain lifts. Their energy, that is clearly felt on the stage either powers the actors or sucks them dry. But in this whole space, for the time that the performance is happening, there is a unity between all these elements that is to me spiritual, a gift of God. Lifting all the souls in this space, creating that community, and this is when I realize that we are one and the same. That if we can continue that recognition after the curtain closes, after that trashcan is full of empty cans, candy wrappers and crumpled programs we would all be much better for each other. This is one of the reasons I do theater. This is one of the reasons I love it so much.

Feliz Cumpleaños to a Special One

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:38:00 +0000

Today is Tuesday, June 16. Not just any Tuesday, but Jo Ann's birthday. It is day that I really enjoy celebrating, obviously. If you read a prior blog, you would know that we have been together as partners for over 34 years. That is quite an accomplishment I might add. But this is a blog about theater and the fact that Jo Ann is here on earth is relevant to my participation in theater.

When we first met, she was an education major and I a theater major at the University of Texas. She was heavily involved in a Chicano organization, MAYO. In fact she was an elected officer. My political involvement was zero. I had an excuse then, one only theater majors might understand. So she is the one that moved me toward more learning, more discovering about whom I was, where I had come from and where I was going.

Hummm...sounds like the main reason I do theater and write plays. The more we fell in love, the more we began to share ideas, dreams, and classes. She suggested the electives classes that we could take together to meet our degree requirements. And for three of our last four college years, we took a class together every semester. It also worked out great for studying too. We would attend classes, she would read the books and I would write the papers. She would rewrite my paper for her own version. Was this cheating? I don't know, since she usually got a better grade on her paper than I did on mine. So this pattern, established over 30 years ago continues to this day. Only we are not writing for grades, but for grants.

So how does an education major and theater major make it all work? Well actually it didn't. We did break up our final year of college. Theater took too much time away from our relationship. I would return at 1:00 am on a regular basis from rehearsals or performances. Then be up and gone to the 7:00 am class since all my classes had to be done by 1pm for me to do my work-study job that lasted until 6:00pm, giving me an hour before that 7:00pm rehearsal/or call that would take me to midnight. But we never stopped being friends or staying in touch. So a one-year separation was like a big rubber band. We stretched it as far as it would go and then it brought us back together for good. We have stretched that rubber band some during the past years but it hasn't broken. And I hope it never does.

But what did happen was that Jo Ann developed her own love for the theater, but on the business end. She has flourished. We both gave up to solid teaching careers in Houston, TX and moved to Santa Barbara, California to work with Teatro de la Esperanza. She took the job of tour coordinator. Esperanza was exclusively a touring company so she pretty much kept the group in business for about 4 years. We left the group, came back to Austin with two small children; Julio and Carina and left the theater world behind. This was in 1983.

Then one day, ten years later, (I was now working as a letter carrier and Jo Ann resumed her teaching career) I decided that I wanted to write again. I missed the theater and found that she did too. Joining forces with Teatro Humanidad Cansada (Now Teatro Humanidad), we began our return. Jo Ann performed like we had just left Califas the day before. She was a pro at doing publicity and marketing. To this day, people marvel at how well Teatro Vivo does its PR campaigns. This is Jo Ann.
But this is not all she does. She also serves as a very, very important part of my play development. And this is what means the most to me. She listens. And she remains the most trusted critic that I have. She is honest in her comments to my scripts. Most people don't know that she is the first to hear my plays. We sit at the dinner table, and I read. She takes notes and gives me important first impression feedback. I use what she gives me and she has made me a better writer or at least my plays better.
This note today is dedicated to you, Jo Ann, on the 20th anniversary of your 35th birthday. Your love, devotion, and support of me, my work, our children have made me a very happy man. I hope that I too have returned some of the same that you have given me. Happy birthday and I am on my way to the store for champagne and Italian cream cake.

Go West Young Man, Go West to Alpine, TX Rupert's Blog 6/9/09

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Rupert's Blog 6/9/09

Go West Young Man, Go West to Alpine, TX and Find Latino Theater

Many moons ago, my son was a third-grader at Maplewood Elementary School. Julio, (a pretty good actor,) had a 3rd grade teacher named Juliette Pearce. She had grown up in Alpine, TX, where her folks once owned a department store. Sometime later she lost her father and returned home to be close to her mother. In continuing her love of theater by performing at and studying at Sul Ross University, she met theater professor Greg Schwab, and as in all good stories, they fell in love and married.
Now, Juliette had also become my wife's best friend during her time in Austin, so visits to Alpine during Spring Break and at Christmas time became a regular get away for us. Juliette and Greg welcomed not only Jo Ann and I but our children as well. Anya, my youngest, attended "Camp Schwab" one summer.. We spoke of theater often, but it took nearly 20 years for these discussions to lead to a meeting with Dona Roman, now the Theater Department head at Sul Ross.
Dona Roman was looking for plays to "cross the tracks" in Alpine. Now, I am not versed in the history of Alpine, other than what I have read in plaques and bits and pieces here in there while visiting, but just like any other Texas town, it was somewhat segregated between Latinos (Mexican-Americans) and Anglos. Times have changed there, but the railroad still forms a "mental" dividing line, much like I-35 does here in Austin. Dona is dedicated to erasing that line, and she intends to do it with theater. So she chose my Petra Plays for the outdoor summer Theater of the Big Bend . Her vision has made Alpine a little town with some big ideas.
This summer, with the third production in the Petra Play cycle, Petra's Sueño, she will host a workshop that lays the foundation for a Latino playwright festival in Alpine every summer. Already on board for this workshop/conference are Dr. Jorge Huerta, Liz Castillo—a local playwright who specializes in autobiographical theater—and myself. Teatro Vivo will serve on a panel, conduct a workshop on collaborative writing and participate in a reading of three new scripts. The workshop will begin with the July 19 performance of Sueño at the Kokernot Theater in Alpine and culminate on July 23 with staged readings at the newly remodeled Granada Theater in downtown Alpine. Yes, there is a downtown Alpine.
You know, Alpine is way out in West Texas. It is a six-hour drive from Austin, a one-hour flight from Midland/Odessa Airport (and a 1 ½ hour drive after arriving), but it is worth it. I used to live in Santa Barbara, Califas and would make the drive back to Austin twice a year during our month long vacations. No, we weren't well off: Teatro de la Esperanza had to sort of lay us off because they couldn't afford to pay everyone for 12 months. So everyone took off June and December after our Fall and Spring tours. The route to Austin is on I-10, through Fort Stockton. I hated the drive. Nothing but desert between Tucson, AZ and Junction, TX it seemed. But not anymore.
People go to far off places to meditate and stare at nature to become enlightened.
The drive from Austin to Alpine has become that for me now. Jo Ann and I talk for hours, uninterrupted. The landscape after observing it becomes beautiful in that while it may all seem the same, repeated observations brings out the subtle shapes and forms that you find in the desert and suddenly the variety is striking and well, beautiful. You see all sorts of animals and vegetation. If it has been a wet spring, it is green with wild flowers; a dry spring only means that the hardy ones come to life filling the desert with different colors.
I am looking forward to something new in the desert and in Alpine. Liz and Dona and our great friends, Juliette and Greg Schwab are supporting great beginnings for Latino theater in Alpine that will have an impact all over the country. This is my hope. This is my prayer.

To Bi- or not to Bi-, that is the question.

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:33:00 +0000

To Bi-lingualize a script or not to bi-lingualize a script, THAT is the question.
I guess the bigger question is WHY to bilingualize a script. We are talking Spanish and English in Teatro Vivo's realm, but I know other groups that are using other languages besides Spanish. The United States has a multitude of languages spoken, and I think this is great. English only? Baloney.
But why use both languages? The main reason for using Spanish and English simultaneously is that we speak this way. A huge portion of the Latino community uses a mix of Spanish and English when they are speaking, and even some native English speakers sprinkle Spanish into their conversations as well. (I would bet that the Asian community has also begun to slip into the same pattern. It would make for an interesting investigation.)
I grew up speaking Spanish but learned English as a result of living next door to an African American family. They also picked up a few Spanish words in return. So my family was bilingual not only when speaking at home but also when speaking to the neighbors. Now when I speak "bilingually," it is due to a limited Spanish vocabulary. Back when I was growing up it was just the opposite. We substituted made-up words for English. This is where we get "carts" instead of letters. You know, "Hey mailman, did I get any carts today?" There is even at least one "Spanglish" dictionary available now. Adrian Villegas does a hilarious routine with several of these words in Six Mexicans Names Gonzales.
The second reason for bilingualizing a script is that it helps audience members connect with what they're seeing onstage. A regular comment we get after our shows is that the characters spoke the same way that the audience member speaks at home or with their friends. And second, our English speaking audiences also comment on how much they enjoyed the play and some even felt like they could speak Spanish by the end of the performance.
In conversations about bilingualism with Austin Chronicle writer Belinda Acosta, (Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz), we have come to the agreement that there is a huge marketing opportunity that is just barely being scratched. MTV3 and Mund2 are making some headway. One needs to only look at what happened with the Latino Comedy Projects, promotional segments on MTV3. They were a huge hit and garnered an Emmy nomination.
Too many times mainstream entities go for the purely Spanish language in newpapers, magazines,TV shows or Movies. Now, I can understand why the printed media would avoid the use of the bilingual approach. It is really hard to read, and if you are not fluent in both, almost impossible. I have always believed that this is why my scripts never get produced by non-Latino theater companies. When they are read, the words don't flow, and if you don't speak Español, forget it. They only work when you have both the visual and emotional support provided by the actors on the stage.
But TV and movies are perfect for this approach. What we get is a sprinkling of Spanish to give it sabor but no real serious attempt is made to balance the languages and make the show more accessible to two sets of monolingual speakers at the same time. If there is a good example of a bilingual film or TV show, please let me know.
So all you filmmakers and TV producers, there is gold in them there hills. Our plays have already discovered it; now we need someone to open the mines.

Latino Plays and Head on Collisions

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:23:00 +0000

A bit of personal information: yesterday was my 35th wedding anniversary. Yep, Jo Ann
has stuck with me that many years. It has been a long, joyous journey filled with three kids, all the best a parent could hope for. This column is dedicated to them.

"How do you build Latino audiences?" someone asked. The quick answer is to do Latino plays. The long and unsolved question is: What is a Latino play? I am not going to attempt to answer that.

Okay, maybe just one little attempt.

When anyone asks me, "What is a Latino play?" I usually respond, "Any play written by someone who identifies the subject matter, characters, or story with the 'Latino culture'." This is a very broad definition, but it encompasses some of the best work that would qualify as "Latinoesque".

For example, Chris Eska, a filmmaker from Gonzales, Texas has created a great film, August Evening that is in Spanish, while he is not a Spanish speaker. All right, so it's a film not a play, but what the hell. I'd call it a Latino work.

On the other hand, some plays written by Latinos do not have Latino characters or relate at all to the Latino experience. Monica Bustamante, for example, writes beautiful, nationally recognized plays that are really for more of a mainstream audience. (I realize that "mainstream" is a catchall term too.) I like her plays; I am a Latino and so is she; but I don't go to her plays for insight into my own experience as a Latino but rather to experience excellent writing usually accompanied by outstanding acting. Monica, I might add is equal in both disciplines.

I can make that separation, as many other Latinos do on a regular basis. But if we want to "grow a Latino audience," we need to offer them something different—characters, situations, and references to which new Latino audiences will easily relate. I mean, while we all love Waiting for Godot, would a first time theatergoer say, "Wow! I want to see more of this"? It would take a different individual to relate.

Let me take you back in time. When I was studying at UT Austin in the '70s, I was in love with theater (I still am). I did the Shakespeare, the Ibsen, and Williams' plays. Then I happened upon a free play at the Texas Union. A group of actors, later I learned that it was Teatro Campesino; all Latinos/Chicanos were doing this really funny play called Los Vendidos.

They spoke Spanish and English simultaneously, used familiar expressions, made fun of them in a way that we did privately, and made social commentary about racism, prejudice and some of our own shortcomings. This style of theater, while not new at all, was new to me. It opened a door to something that I loved more than my wife-to-be at the time. (We did break up due to all the time I spent at the theater, but we got back together. Just think, kids you might have had a different dad. Okay, I heard that.)

Rushing back to the Drama Building, I went straight to my theater history teacher to inform him of a great discovery, like had I been an astronomy major who had just discovered a comet or something. He calmly said, oh yeah, that's Luis Valdez, he doesn't do theater, he does politics.

I have never been in a head-on collision but this is what it must feel like. All your inertia heading in one direction suddenly being stopped, crushing your body, forcing all the air out of your lungs with the G forces being experienced. I just left. And then forgot about it. Fortunately, a few months later Dr. Jorge Huerta, almost retired from UCSD, came to campus and told of this whole theater movement that included Luis Valdez and other companies across the US and Mexico. He had scripts, notes and by the time he left, we had formed our own group.

Theater became something to me that I realized that it hadn't been. I enjoyed the stage, the stagecraft, even had done a little writing at the time. But now it was "relevant". It could encompass who I was and the reality that I had experienced. And trust me folks, it is different.

If you grow up Chicano/Latino, Black, Asian, Native American or even rural or urban, we all share some American cultural qualities, but there are big differences and most are never revealed. Now, theater would allow me to share these with other Latinos to validate our experiences and non-Latinos to try to provide some insight for them into who we are.

So how do you grow Latino audiences? With plays that let them go home feeling that they just saw themselves on stage. That their lives are worth the time and energy to create stories that speak to them in both language and relevance. Do I mean that they merely mirror back their lives? That Latino plays should merely regurgitate back who we are? No, they should be just like other successful plays that question who we are and where we are going.

¡ Viva la competencia!

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:13:00 +0000

I was recently speaking with a friend about the need for more Latino plays in Austin they responded quite innocently, "But that wouldn't be good for you. They would be in competition with you." Okay, now there are three, maybe four groups that are doing "Latino" plays in Austin. Us, Proyecto Teatro, Teatro Humanidad, Leticia Rodriguez's, Performance Encounters and more recently Nebraska Ex, Felix Rivas. We do bilingual plays; Proyecto does plays only in Spanish, Teatro Humanidad is the sponsor of the Latino Comedy Project and children's plays, Performance has done some bilingual work, and Felix is just great at what he does. I think we could all use some "competition".
But let me talk about the way that I see competition. When Teatro Vivo was first created, I was immediately inundated with comments about how we were now in competition with another existing "teatro". My response was, "Why don't all the Mexican food restaurants join together so that we can have only one in town?" We like that a new place opens up so that we can discover a new taste. Maybe something closer to those enchiladas that Mom used to make. This is the way that I felt about having two theater companies in town or more. More choices are good thing.
As I see it, the only one I have to compete with is myself. No one who comes to our shows and then goes to another performance says, "Oh your show was better or worse than theirs". So I have to create works that are better or different from the previous one that we did so that my audiences will continue to come to our plays. I always feel like we are one misstep from starting all over.
I welcome new groups, new plays that try to create more works for Latino audiences AND everyone else involved. We need more groups doing Latino works so that all these wonderful Latino actors and actress can find work. I was extremely excited to see Austin Shakespeare take on Romeo and Juliet with a "bilingual" approach. I was invited to their rehearsals and overjoyed at all the actors on stage. Many of those actors have worked with us. They were continuing to do excellent work.
Not only do I encourage other groups to consider Latino plays, but have joined forces to do just that. Our history has collaborations with not just other Latino groups such as Austin Latino Theater Alliance, but with Different Stages in the Edit Villarreal play, "Marriage is Forever". We met with Austin Shakespeare to give input into R and J and encouraged Ann Ciccolella to take the risk. Zachary Scott's efforts in Jesus Cristo were also to be applauded. Salvage Vanguard works regularly with Caridad Svich. We want Latino's to go to the theater, even if its not one of our shows. We want to create theater going audiences and not just audiences for our shows. So if you venture into the world of Latino theater, let us know, we will happily to send word out on our email list.
Added note: Congratulations to the members of the Latino Comedy Project for their Emmy Nominations. Karinna Perez, a Teatro Vivo company member is among the nominees. Dale shine, Karinna.

La Gente Will Come

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Rupert's Blog 5/12/09 – La Gente Will Come

It is opening night for us at Teatro Vivo, and the production is ready. We have been rehearsing for 5 weeks; the set has been built, painted, and installed; the lights have been focused and gels put in, costumes assembled and fit, props cleaned and ready to go. All these elements are behind the curtain—an area we have 100% control over. Okay, cars break down, people get sick, but you know what I mean.
But what happens in front of the curtain? In the "house" as it is known. Well, there is a similar process. Press releases are carefully prepared, with photos, bios, mock reviews, and our own feature story. We include past info or reviews of our shows and they go out. Posters are designed and disseminated by Motor Blade Postering, cards are delivered via US Postal Service. Radio ads are purchased from KUT, and we have created 30 seconds commercials that go to the cable networks and prayed they might run them. Then we wait, right?
We could do that. But we don't.
We know that many future audience members are not reading the Chronicle, the Statesman, West Austin News or listening to NPR or other programs on KUT. We know that when you are named "Teatro Vivo" that the public assumes that our plays are in Spanish. We also know that we would love to fill every seat in the house. You are paying for every seat in the theater and if you get someone to pay for it, great. If not, why leave it empty?
We do well in ticket sales. We are very, very grateful for that. And I can tell you that it is because of the great job that my wife Jo Ann does publicizing the show. And we do pretty well at filling the theater too. Oh, we have had those nights with only 50 or 60 people, but they are rare.
We go to the social service groups who are more than happy to take advantage of free tickets for their clients. These include Manos de Cristo, El Buen Samaritano and Casa Marianella. And then there are the Senior Community Centers that include Connelly-Guerrero, and others. We even have the wonderful Marisa Limon who works with these groups to arrange transportation through various sources.
Notices are sent to high school theater classes. Most National Honor Society groups must complete a cultural event requirement. We will give them a note that they attended. And how many business have employee groups wanting to do something together? Personal invites have results, I promise.
La gente will come, but it takes a little more than just the great PR packets and the ads. Once you learn how to do this, it gets easier and you get responses such as Jo Ann and I did the other day when we ran into a group of three senior señoras.
"When is your next play? We can't wait."

Open hearts, open minds,
Rupert Reyes

La Raza in the Casa

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Rupert's Blog 5.06.09 - La Raza in the Casa

In my last blog, “¿Donde está la raza?”, I raised the question of why there are so few Latinos and other minorities among Austin cultural audiences. One of the most interesting responses suggested that Latinos have to behave differently at certain art functions "West of IH 35".

The writer suggested that when Latinos are at an event where there are lots of their own, they can relax and be themselves. When attending an event where they feel isolated, they have to act like someone else.

I would agree somewhat, but I would be a little more specific and say that when attending an event governed by another culture’s behavioral code, they have to guess what these rules are and act accordingly.

So where are the Latino Audiences? At home watching TV, I would imagine. Because watching a TV show in your own home where you can laugh as loud as you want and talk back to the actors is probably a lot more enjoyable than going to an event where you spend the whole time trying to figure out how to behave.

I can think of two solutions to this problem. First, traditional theater-going audiences must become more accepting of audience reactions outside the norm. So what if someone laughs a little too loud at a crude joke? So what if someone lets out a grito at an opera performance? If people pay for a ticket, they have a right to enjoy the show.

The second solution has to do with education and is not so much a project as a lifelong commitment. Latino youth must be encouraged to attend as many theater performances as possible in order to develop a culture that is comfortable sitting in an audience.

Many Latinos have never experienced a play. My understanding from students of the former Johnston High School (now Eastside Memorial) is that the theater department at Eastside Memorial High School has gone years without a play being produced on their stage. I know there is a new theater teacher there this year, and I wish her the best.

So how can you talk to a student or their families about theater when they have little or no information about it? How can you describe a play to someone who has never seen one or experienced one? You can't.

Here are a few suggestions:

We need to get funds to get local theaters to produce free shows at the high schools, middle schools and elementary schools with high minority enrollment, to begin to expose the students and their families to these shows.

How about "trailers for theater"? You could have groups come and do 30 minutes of a play for a school and then distribute tickets to see the rest.

These are just a couple of ideas I can think of off the top of my head. If you can think of more, please add them in the comments section. I think it is time to start a dialog on this subject. Students are the future. To paraphrase Luis Valdez, if you can't get the students to the theater, get the theater to the students.

Creating Latino Theatre Audiences

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Rupert's Blog 4.28.09 - ¿Donde está la raza?

Austin's Fuse Box Festival, which takes place this week in venues and public spaces all across the city, is a theater festival that is being done right. Since its founding in 2007 by Ron Berry of Refraction Arts, the festival has grown into historic proportions. It presents renowned international acts and national artists either free of charge or at very low cost. In addition, Fuse Box offers daily lunchtime meetings called Fusebox Talks, where audience members can meet and talk with the artists, and nighttime gatherings, Fusebox Late Night Hangout at Spider house's US Art Authority.

I've had the privilege of attending a couple of Fusebox events this year, and I've seen shows I never could have imagined (most notably érection, an astonishing dance performance by Pierre Regal and Aurelien Bory that follows the evolution of humankind from primitive to modern times). One thing I haven't seen at the festival, however, is a significant Latino audience. The intent of this blog is to raise the question of why.

How much effort do the organizers of cultural events that are not specifically geared towards certain ethnic groups put into marketing for minority audiences? Do they just publicize along traditional wavelengths--English-language press releases to the Statesman and the Chronicle, publicity photos, English-language posters around Downtown? Or do they try to get creative, but somehow fail to generate minority interest?

As artistic director of Teatro Vivo, the only theater company in Austin committed to producing bilingual (English-Spanish) theater accessible to all audiences, I am constantly working to grow audiences from among people who do not typically attend cultural events. In particular, there is a large and growing Latino population in Austin which, as I have seen first-hand at numerous cultural events in this city, many organizers don't seem to be able to reach.

Teatro Vivo enjoys its relationship with all the artists in town. We enjoy being around them both on a professional and on a personal level. We have always been welcomed to events and performances. This blog in no way intends to level or insinuate any type of discrimination or insensitivity on the part of the organizers and their supporters.

It does, however, intend to call attention to the fact that there's a huge segment of the population of this city that is not taking part in its cultural events. As artists and organizers, we have an obligation to figure out why, and to work to change that. Encouraging the participation of Latinos and other minorities in cultural events will benefit everyone--not only the people who attend the events, but artists, promoters, and Austin as a whole.

Cuentos y Risas

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:32:00 +0000

Teatro Vivo presents – Cuentos y Risas, an evening of comedy!
Two bilingual one-act plays entitled 2 Souls and a Promise & Crossing the Rio

Who:Teatro Vivo
What:Cuentos y Risas, an evening of comedy
Two bilingual one-act plays entitled 2 Souls and a Promise & Crossing the Rio by Rupert Reyes

When: March 5 – 15, 2009 Thursday – Saturday 8 p.m. Sunday matinee 3 p.m.

Where: Dougherty Arts Theatre
1110 Barton Springs Rd.
Austin, TX 78704
Tickets:General Admission $16/$13 students/seniors
Thursdays are “pay what you wish”
Call AUSTIX 474-8497 www.nowplayingaustin.com/austix

Teatro Vivo is proud to present Cuentos y Risas, an evening of comedy, with two bilingual one-act plays entitled 2 Souls and a Promise and Crossing the Rio written and directed by Rupert Reyes, Teatro Vivo’s artistic director. Rupert is the author of Vecinos, nominated for a B. Iden Payne award for best original script in 2008 and the very popular Petra plays, Petra’s Pecado, Petra’s Cuento and Petra’s Sueño.

2 Souls and a Promise is a bilingual comedy about two young lovers who make a promise to keep their souls united for eternity. What they didn't take into account was that they were not destined to die at the same time, which brings interesting results. It’s a promise, una promisa, which comes true in a way that neither would have ever anticipated. Be careful about the promises you make, keeping them can be tricky!

Crossing the Rio is a bilingual comedy about, a new officer in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of Homeland Security, Jarett Acosta, who is on probation for his job. To complicate things, his superior officer is actually his own over bearing father. Will he make his probation? His true test will not lie with how well he does his job but how well he doesn't when the love of his life attempts to across the border illegally. Faced with this situation, will he have to cross his own personal river to save her?

Join Teatro Vivo for this special evening of bilingual comedy with two one-act plays that will entertain the entire Austin community! This bilingual style of theatre makes our productions accessible to non-Spanish speakers.

Teatro Vivo’s mission is to produce culturally relevant theatre addressing critical social issues about the Latino experience. Teatro Vivo’s productions reflect the heart and soul of the Latino reality and provide a window into the humanity we all share. For more information about Teatro Vivo visit www.teatrovivo.org.

FANTASMAVILLE

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:47:00 +0000

Who: Teatro Vivo

What: Fantasmaville a new play by Raul Garza and directed by David Yeakle

When: November 5 - 16, 2008 -
Wednesday – Saturday 8 pm
Sunday matinee 2 pm and 6 pm

Where: The Rollins Theatre at The Long Center for the Performing Arts
701 W. Riverside Drive
Austin, TX 78704 Tickets:

Preview Weds.& Thurs. Nov. 5 and 6 - All seats $12

Opening Night Gala Performance and Backstage Reception Friday Nov. 7 $25 All other performances $14 - $18

Call 474-LONG or online www.thelongcenter.org

Teatro Vivo kicks off its 8th season, entitled Nacido en Texas,(Born in Texas) with the world premiere of the 2008 National Latino Playwright award winning play, Fantasmaville. Written by Austinite Raul Garza and directed by David Yeakle, Fantasmaville will enlighten and entertain audiences as it shines a light on the sensitive subject of the gentrification of East Austin. With a strong dose of comedy, Fantasmaville captures the dilemma of urban Chicanos caught between their treasured cultural past and their assimilated present.

Fantasmaville humorously examines the love/hate relationship Latino-Americans have with the ghosts of past people and places. When a world-weary Chicana, Celeste, and her Anglo husband, Martin, desire to experience a sense of community, they return home to the urban neighborhood where they both grew up. They resist the surge of gentrification. Colorful local characters, including an advice-spinning “Mexicano spirit guide” who takes on the form of a human-sized raccoon, complicate the couple's return. While facing the threat of a yuppie-centric dog park encroaching on her neighborhood, Celeste discovers the secret of her heritage, her purpose, and her longing for a sense of home.

Raul Garza is a Texas-based writer whose work has been performed by the Latino Comedy Project at SketchFests in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. A veteran of the advertising industry, Raul has created national commercials for clients including McDonald’s, Reebok and Miller Lite, and is co-founder of TKO Advertising in Austin, TX. Fantasmaville is Garza’s first full-length play.

Teatro Vivo’s artistic director, Rupert Reyes commented that “Garza’s authentic fresh comedic voice will gives the sense that he intimately knows the characters he writes." Garza uses a fluent Chicano tongue, dancing effortlessly between English and Spanish.” This new production is can be enjoyed by the entire Austin community, including non-Spanish speakers.

Teatro Vivo is delighted to be working with critically acclaimed director David Yeakle, who was recently nominated for multiple B. Iden Payne Awards for his production of The Red Balloon.

Teatro Vivo will be making its return to the Long Center, after selling out its last production, Petra’s Sueño, at the prestigious theater. Be sure to look out for the two other productions of Teatro Vivo’s season, Nacido en Texas: Rupert Reyes’ latest work, Crossing the Rio and Tripas by Lisa Walden Cortez.

For more information, visit Teatro Vivo’s website at www.teatrovivo.org or call 512 474-6379.

Teatro Vivo's Next Production.....

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Voces de Vivo • Voces de la Cultura Latina

An Evening of Four New Latino One-act Plays

August 14 - 24, 2008
Thursday. – Saturday 8 p.m.
Sunday matinee 3 p.m.
Dougherty Arts Theatre
1110 Barton Springs Rd.
Austin, TX 78704
General Admission $15/$12 students/seniors
Thursdays are “pay what you wish”
Call AUSTIX 474-8497
or on line www.texasperforms.com
More info at www.teatrovivo.org

Teatro Vivo is proud to present the premiere of 4 original one - act plays created by Teatro Vivo's own company members - Natalie Goodnow, Celeste Guzman Mendoza, Michael Mares Mendoza and Rupert Reyes. Each one-act play in this unique offering of Latino theatre is approximately 30 minutes in length. Each play represents it’s own colorful facet of Latino culture. The dialogue in the plays does include a sampling of Spanish, but is easily understood by non-Spanish speakers.

Muntu by Natalie Goodnow Muntu is a Kikongo word that means both "tree" and "person." Natalie Goodnow's one-woman show of the same name is a reflection on the relationships that exist between trees and people, between old Austin and its changing cultural landscape, and between the author and her many selves. It is an invitation to reflect. Natalie Gooodnow, wrote and performed a shorter version of Muntu for Frontera Fest 2008. Natalie was last seen in Teatro Vivo’s recent production of Petra’s Sueño as the ethereal angel, Dolores.

Adela’s Altar by Celeste Guzman Mendoza While cleaning the altar at her neighborhood church, Adela hears the voice of God talking to her. She believes He gives her insights into other people's problems and future. But will He help her? Celeste Guzman Mendoza, an accomplished writer and theater artist. Celeste was last seen last fall in Teatro Vivo’s production of La Victima as the immigrant mother, Amparo.

Las Amandas by Michael Mares Mendoza Las Amandas is a one - man show that tells the story about the search for love that spans 2 generations. The story follows a mother and a sister's endless journey to fulfill a love lost in Mexico. This journey crosses more than just generations. It crosses borders. Michael Mendoza was last seen in Teatro Vivo’s recent production of Petra’s Sueño as the colorful Diablo character.

2 Souls and a Promise by Rupert Reyes Two young lovers make a promise to keep their souls united for eternity. It’s a promise,una promisa, that comes true in a way that neither would have ever anticipated. Rupert Reyes, is Teatro Vivo’s artistic director and resident playwright. He is the author of Vecinos and the very popular Petra plays, Petra’s Pecado, Petra’s Cuento and Petra’s Sueño.

Visit www.teatrovivo.org for more information

Petra's Sueño Opening Weds. June 4th!

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:16:00 +0000

Teatro Vivo presents...

Petra’s Sueño,
a bilingual comedy by Austin playwright, Rupert Reyes
Directed by Mary Alice Carnes

June 4 - 8, 2008
Wednesday-Saturday 8pm
Sunday 2 pm and 6pm

Rollins Theater
701 W. Riverside Drive Austin TX 78701
The Long Center for the Performing Arts

Petra Dominguez, everyone’s favorite Latina matriarch, is back! In this adventure, Petra has attracted the attention of a very powerful diabolical duo. ¡Ay dios, mio! Who are they? Are they bent on stealing her tortilla business or her soul? Is this all a dream, un sueño, or a nightmare? Lots of questions, but lots of laughs, too. Teatro Vivo delivers a thought provoking, laugh out loud contemporary take on morality with this bilingual production. The seamless interchange from English to Spanish in this comedy creates an enjoyable experience for both monolingual and bilingual speakers.

Tickets-
Weds. 8pm $8 preview
Thursday 8pm $10
Friday - Saturday 8pm $15
Sunday 2pm and 6 pm $15
Seniors and Student $12 - available one hour before performances

More info - www.teatrovivo.org
Tickets online - www.thelongcenter.org
Box Office Call 512 474-LONG
Tickets Available 1 hour before performances

Teatro Vivo • Teatro con Córazon y Alma • Theater with Heart and Soul

noreply@blogger.com (Teatro Vivo) — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Bringing the Latino Story to the Stage...

Teatro Vivo, based in Austin, Texas, was founded in 2000 by Rupert and JoAnn Reyes with the goal of creating a popular bilingual theater that tells the Latino story in English and Spanish.

Building Bridges of Understanding...

Whether presenting a full length play, conducting an acting workshop, collaborating with community organizations or teaching in after-school programs, Teatro Vivo artists seek to open a unique window into the Latino culture and build a bridge to understanding the humanity we all share.

Teatro con Córazon y Alma • Theater with Heart and Soul

Teatro Vivo continues to be a professional, viable and culturally necessary Latino arts organization in the Texas arts community.

Visit our website www.teatrovivo.org