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American Sueño, a play by Rebecca Martínez and Dañel Malán, is coming to campus on Thursday, March 4. The performance is free at 12 p.m. in Wickstrom Theater.
The play is part of a tour of Portland-based Teatro Milagro, or Miracle Theater. The production is bilingual, performed in both Spanish and English.
Focusing on issues that often fall to the wayside, the play follows four Latino individuals searching for the meaning and fruition of the American Dream. Themes include homelessness, sexuality, immigration, economic instability, addiction, acceptance and relevant social issues.
The play profiles a gay, undocumented immigrant musician named Agustín Obrero de la Torre and his bisexual, ostracized (but citizen) sister Monica. Agustín’s friend Mimi, a transgendered performer, and Cruz, a homeless woman, fill out the cast. Characters are related through cultural ties and their personal searching journey through life in the United States.
In a January interview for KBOO Community Radio in Portland, the play’s writer/director and the actors who play Agustín and Cruz discussed immigration and the true meaning of an American identity.
“When do you become an American, and who defines that? To me, it’s when you have that soul, that history of being an American, you are an American,” said Joaquin López, who plays Agustín. “America is a country of immigrants, and everybody is part of an immigrant story. Unless you are Native American, of course.”
Teatro Milagro first began performing American Sueño in January, very recently after the Dec. 21, 2009 decision was made to legalize gay marriage in Mexico City and Coahuila, Mexico. The law goes into effect the same day American Sueño appears in Centralia.
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