Students and crew from the Teatrotaller, Cornell student group, pose for a picture after their performance of desiertos Saturday. The set for the group's play included more than 50 milk cartons collected by Professor Stuart Day and University students to represent the thirst faced by immigrants as they cross the desert on the Mexico-US border.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Five immigrants in the back of a pitch-black, sweltering trailer by the Mexican-American border gasp for oxygen and water. One cries out in Spanish to God, another to his mother. Then they curse each other for panicking. Later, five women, in shawls and tears, sprinkle sand over the four who didn’t survive.
Emotional moments like these portray the perils of immigration throughout “Desiertos,” a play about Mexican-American immigration that 11 Cornell University undergraduate students performed in Woodruff Auditorium Saturday night.
The students are part of a group called in the group Teatrotaller, or “theater workshop.” The group performs a play in Spanish every semester at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., but the group has traveled as far as England and Israel to perform the plays. Professor Stuart Day was one of the first scene managers for Teatrotaller during his doctoral program at Cornell years ago. Day now teaches at the University of Kansas and helped the department of Spanish and Portuguese to bring the group to Lawrence.
“There were a lot of students there, and we wanted them to see what a group of undergraduate students can do,” Day said. “We also wanted to tie in a lot of issues that are important to us at KU as we have more and more Latino students from around the state coming to KU.”
The play, written by award-winning Mexican playwright Hugo Alfred Hinojosa, portrays the hardships of immigrants and those they leave behind. With the exception of one character, a bigoted border patrol agent, the dialogue is entirely in Spanish. The Cornell cast had six native Spanish-speakers and five students who started studying the language in school, said Jimmy Noriega, Cornell doctoral student and director of the show. Noriega, who grew up by the border in Douglas, Ariz., said although the characters and their words were fictional, their tragic stories were based on actual events.
“I know a lot of people who have actually lived this story,” Noriega said. “It hit me really big because it felt like home. I felt it had to be told because a lot of people don’t want to look at this side of immigration, the actual personal stories.”
Sani Brosig, Loredo, Texas, is a junior at Cornell and stage manager of the show. Brosig’s parents are immigrants and she grew up by the border. She said she had held past positions with Teatrotaller but her personal history made her want a more prominent leadership role in “Desiertos.”
“A lot of people in my hometown are immigrants,” Brosig said. “There were a couple of scenes where the moms of the men who went to find work didn’t know where they were. I know a lot of people who had that experience growing up.”
Debra Castillo, professor of comparative literature and romance studies and adviser of the group, said Teatrotaller had performed more than 50 plays since its origin in 1993. She said this play in particular had the most profound tie to an ongoing struggle in the modern world.
“This play is really powerful,” Castillo said. “It’s a very serious play.”
Austin Robinson, Overland Park junior, said the powerful effect of the show was what he appreciated most. He said the part he found most moving was the portrayal of the only English-speaking person: the southern border-patrol agent.
“It kind of captured, in an exaggerated version, what people feel who are opposed to rights of immigrants and don’t respect the lives of immigrants,” Robinson said. “The play gave a good counter viewpoint to that kind of thought.”
Robinson said, as a double major in theater and Spanish, seeing the example of Teatrotaller gave him an interest in possibly starting a similar group at the University.
“I think it definitely can be done at KU,” Robinson said. “Its just a matter of getting organized and enough people behind it. I think a lot of other students I know would definitely be involved as well.”
— Edited by Abbey Strusz
Film festival expands students’ horizons
This year, the Center of Latin American Studies is showing four documentaries ...
Voices of dissent intend to be heard ...
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will visit the Lied Center on ...
McNaughton: Profiling never acceptable
The media often perpetuates biases with its labels.
Fiesta helps fund Spanish program
Last year’s fiesta gave $40,000 to St. John Catholic School to hire ...
GTA reproaches Minutemen
Church unites Spanish speakers
Lawrence’s Plymouth Congregational Church offers new Spanish-speaking services.
Policy forces cancellation of study abroad in ...
The policy has received criticism because the program is located 1,000 miles ...
An undocumented DREAM
If passed, the DREAM Act would give temporary legal residence to undocumented ...
Harris: Proposed immigration bill raises concern for ...
Despite the fact that this bill could result in racial profiling and ...
Latino groups celebrate Cinco de Mayo
Campus organizations teach local children about the Mexican holiday through dance lessons ...
Hirschfeld: Don’t be language prejudice
Some people judge a person’s linguistics by the color of their skin. ...
Students celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Members of HALO and Boys and Girls Club celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month ...
University kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month
Mexican Fiesta funds support spanish language class
The 26th annual Mexican Fiesta at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, ...
Church teaches casual Spanish learners
Without a Spanish minor, some students turn to local class to pick ...
Living in limbo: Javier
Javier lives everyday knowing that he is not welcome in the country ...
Students hail Mexican gala
Alumni play different roles now at University
Former students have returned to the University not just for homecoming, but ...
Public library to host September 11 event
Williams: Language proficiency offers opportunities
Whether it’s English, Spanish or Mandarin, everyone can benefit from mastering multiple ...
SUA revives Salsa Night with extra spice
Five local Mexican restaurants will provide chips and salsa to accompany Latin ...
McNaughton: Diversity still lacking
Diversity is often placed on the back burner in today’s society. Students ...
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
KU students and members of the Lawrence community raise cultural awareness
Violence in Bolivia not so far from ...
Students worry about tension between Bolivia, U.S.
Play addresses both sides of an issue
Tonight the University Theatre will perform "Keely and Du," a play that ...
McNaughton: Immigration about more than give and ...
Some people have ignored the reasons behind immigration, letting their biased views ...
Play explores race, gender, sexuality
This weekend, a Multicultural Theater Initiative production
Performance depicts uncensored student life
"KU Confidential" provides audiences with an in-depth look at what it's like ...
Hip-hop duo to release second album
The local hip-hop group Crux, which formed in 2005, draws many of ...
Foreign to the Fourth
International students have opportunities to celebrate more than just Fourth of July ...
Living in limbo: Raul
Raul is pictured on a KU recruitment poster that says "You have ...
Multicultural Resource Center opens today for all ...
The new building next to the Kansas Union replaces the old center ...
Humanitarian concert helps earthquake victims
LawrenceRocks4Haiti unites community in Haiti relief fundraiser.
New Web database replaces Spanish books
200-level Spanish students replace printed texts with a cheaper, more interactive alternative.
Spotlight on Organizations: HALO
Hispanic American Leadership Organization provides an outlet for students to learn about ...
Playwrights compete in own Final Four
Four student plays will be performed at the English Alternative Theatre in ...
Nine students oppose tuition law, seek relief ...
Student groups need new way to pay ...
The executive committee of the Student Senate passed a resolution to stop ...
A question of identity
The Comanche Nation informed KU that a professor who claims he's Comanche ...
A sobering reality
Two years after Jason Wren's death, what has changed?
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
KUnited presidential candidate Libby Johnson and vice presidential ...
1 comment
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID