A Perilous Journey to America

This week we got to travel without getting on a plane or even going to the airport by attending a play of the first Chicago Latino Theater Festival. From September 29 until October 28^th, eleven plays are being presented in Chicago at various venues. While those of you in Chicago may have missed many, you still have time to see a couple that are running through this weekend.

We saw Amarillo performed at the new Shakespeare Theater, the Yard. The Mexican theater company Teatro Linea De Sombra performed this play directed by Jorge A. Vargas. Using actors, videos, and poems, the plight of those trying to cross the border from Mexico and Central America into the United States as well as the plight of those left behind was depicted. The play was done in Spanish while a screen above the actors provided subtitles in English. While this play feels more like a long and beautiful poem than a play with characters interacting, it was a very creative use of the stage.

Not only did we hear from those who tried unsuccessfully to complete the journey to the United States, we also heard from those left behind. They told us how they felt to be left alone and how they were coping moving forward. It is the unknown part of many of our stories. Many of us have grandparents or great-grandparents who came to America, some who never spoke again of the countries they left or of the family members that they never saw again once they made the perilous voyage. Thus, the story line of Amarillo is universal and easy for many of us to relate to.

I read a similar one by Luis Alberto Urrea, a Tex/Mex American writer who has written several novels and memoirs, among them Into the Beautiful North. In this book, the town of Tres Camarones, Mexico (a fictional town) is left with only women, children, and old men. All the men of working age have left to find work in the United States. Nineteen year old Nayeli and her friends decide to sneak into the United States with the purpose of bringing their men home. While this story was written satirically and allegorically, it depicted the plight of those left behind very well. The book was adapted to the stage and performed at The Sixteenth Street Theater in Berwyn last summer. We were lucky to see it performed there.

Amarillo is a creative piece of theater and an unusual opportunity to get a glimpse into another culture. It’s playing at the Yard, the new Shakespeare Theater venue at Navy Pier, through this coming weekend, until October 29^th. If you live in the Chicago area, go see it. We’re lucky to have a chance to have the world come to us.