Nineteen theater companies and 165 artists from across the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico have been in Los Angeles over the last few weeks for Encuentro 2024: We Are Here – Presente!, at The Los Angeles Theater Company (LATC) in downtown LA. Their three-week run of plays and discussion ends this weekend and if you haven’t attended, there is still time and it is well worth the drive to see the extraordinary work on stage.
This large gathering of Latino playwrights, actors, costume and set designers showcases the best of American theater. The work presented at this national theater festival accurately reflects the life experiences and diversity of Latinos not only across the U.S. but also internationally.
The lobby of LATC is full of conversation among “creatives” speaking in both English and Spanish in various accents from NewYork to East LA, and from the island of Puerto Rico to Mexico to Argentina.
The work of each company has been presented on a rotating schedule, with performances running simultaneously on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in six different spaces within the LATC complex.
It is well worth taking in the many plays that are still currently running (Thursday, Nov. 7, through Sunday, Nov. 10) and it would be a tremendous experience and privilege to see all of the plays that express slices of Latiné life.
Each production is outstanding and relevant.
The Power of Movement
“A Girl Grows Wings” written by Marisela Treviño presented by the Latino Theater Company, and developed and devised by Mexico City’s Organización Secreta Teatro, could not be more timely. It depicts the journey of a young, undocumented “Dreamer” that began when her parents carried her in their arms when she was a baby through the desert on a dangerous journey that they barely survived. This play conveys the experience of many Dreamers, as she grows her wings expressed by movement and performed completely without dialogue.
This play cannot be more relevant as Donald Trump returns to the White House for another four years, vowing to target immigrants in the U.S. and conduct mass deportations that could likely separate families. Trump has also promised to implement tariffs on Mexico, which could spiral the country into a recession.
Following the play a panel of DACA recipients discussed their concern for the current generations of students who will not be afforded the same opportunity they received to go to college and achieve professional employment. Now in their early 30s, they shared their mutual memories of always wanting to go to college but being told they couldn’t because they couldn’t present documents, including a social security card.
They acknowledged that they were fortunate to change their lives through DACA, but it currently isn’t feasible for the thousands graduating who are equally hungry to work and advance their education.
Without immigration reform, which the Biden administration failed to accomplish and Trump opposes, the Dreamers today who have lived all of their lives in the U.S. are a post-DACA generation and ineligible for the policy as portrayed in “A Girl Grows Her Wings,” despite graduating from high school and will have their wings clipped.
This vibrant play, however, still offers hope and the power of resilience passed down through generations of sacrifice, struggle and the powerful DNA of indigeneity.
Feeling the Story
Another noble and outstanding production among the many currently running at Encuentro is “Odd Man Out.”It’s an immersive experience. The audience hears, smells and tastes, but cannot see. The audience is in complete darkness in “pitch black” and one by one is led to their seats.
The audience hears and feels the experience of Alberto, a blind jazz musician traveling home on a plane from New York to Buenos Aires after decades of self-exile. The audience experiences Alberto’s lifelong journey as a child with an overprotective mother, making his way into the world with independence and torturous imprisonment, leaving Argentina and distanced from the love of his life who is determined to remain to fight the political oppression and persecution in Argentina.
This play leaves no detail behind and is masterful in its execution of providing an understanding of being blind, but having profound vision and ability with great will.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.