From: A. Wilson-Gunn <btgtteatrodelacalle@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2024 6:12 PM
Subject: Teatro Dignidad and the play, "2 Nogales"
Teatro Dignidad presents a World Premiere of the play, "2 Nogales
"…they walked and walked and walked…until they arrived in a place with two names…"
-Boturini Codex, The Pilgrimage Strip
About the Play
2 Nogales, by Hugo Salcedo, translated by Iani Moreno, and directed by Eva Zorrilla Tessler, weaves the words of asylum seekers in a Nogales, Sonora shelter, back and forth inside the mouths of a troupe of "actors," traversing an unknown stage. In this compelling new play and multimedia production, these "actors" bring forth true testimonials of harrowing journeys and ideas of hope.
Themes present in the play include the dangerous journey through the Darién Gap, the difficulties in securing appointments through the CBP One App, reasons why asylum seekers flee their home countries, and the everyday horrors asylum seekers face during their journeys and at the US border.
About the Process
Persecution, violence, and political instability force thousands of migrants a day from Latin America, and increasingly from all over the world, to flee their home countries and seek asylum at the U.S. ports of entry. The perilous journey to the U.S./Mexican Border can take months. Migrants often fall prey to human trafficking, extortion, arbitrary detention, violence, and kidnapping, and many die along the journey. For those migrants who manage to make it to the U.S. port of entry, they are usually denied entry to the U.S. by border patrol officials and are told to secure an immigration appointment through the CBP One App, which can take over a year. Resultingly, migrants at the Mexican border often fall victim to organized crime or are forced to take the journey to the United States through the Sonoran Desert, the world's deadliest land migration route according to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Teatro Dignidad and Coalición de Derechos Humanos, with generous support from the University of Arizona Confluence Center, commissioned internationally acclaimed Mexican playwright, Hugo Salcedo, to travel to Nogales, Sonora, and interview asylum seekers at a shelter called, La Casa de Misericordia de Todas Las Naciones.
Salcedo documented true accounts from asylum seekers waiting for the opportunity to access the U.S. asylum system. He then wove a narrative around them, allowing for a troupe of unknown "actors" to share these stories with an audience; both imagined and present. The result is a documentary play about the experiences of asylum seekers in our borderlands, with fictionalized storytellers relaying the narrative.
The Playwright
Hugo Salcedo, is one of Mexico's leading playwrights. He has won numerous awards as a playwright and essayist. Some of these include: first place three times in UNAM's Punto de Parida contest; a National Theater Prize from INBA; a National Theater Prize for Children from INBA; from the National Children's Days for Peace – Sinaloa; first prize twice from the Instituto de Cultura in Baja California; a National Playwriting Prize from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Universidad de Guadalajara - Gobierno del Distrito Federal for, Musica de Balas; the Tirso de Molina International Prize from Spain for Viaje de Los Cantores, The Journey of the Singers; and an International Research Prize for Exploratory Theater for Youth, ASSITEJ-Spain, for his work, Migration in Theater for the Youth of Mexico; the "Orden Escudo de Armas," of Guarenas, Venezuela; and at the University of Tennessee and the 1900 Cultural Center, they dedicated the "International Latin American Theater Conference" to him in 2012. In 2015 he received the "Merit of Theater" award from the Secretary of Culture of the Government of Jalisco; that same year, el Instituto de Arte y Cultura de Tijuana, recognized him for the first 25 years of his theatrical work and, The Journey of the Singers, considering it an "emblematic piece of Mexican theater." The University of Guadalajara launched the "Hugo Salcedo National University Playwriting Prize," bearing his name in recognition of his academic and creative career. Salcedo was a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (SNCA) del Fonca, and is currently a member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores (SNII), and a full-time academic professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, where they have awarded him the "FICSAC Award for Excellence in Academic Research", in 2018, 2020, and 2021. Several of his dramatic pieces have been translated into English, French, German, Persian, Korean, Czech, Italian, and Hungarian, for publication, radio broadcast, and/or performance.
The Translation
Iani Moreno (English Translation), is an Associate professor of Spanish at Suffolk University in Boston where she directs the Spanish Program. Her publications discuss contemporary Latin American theatre and U.S.-Mexico Border dramaturgy. She has attended and presented research papers at numerous conferences at the national and international levels. She is the author of Theatre of the Borderlands: Conflict, Violence, and Healing. Her latest articles were published in Revista Iberoamericana, Revista Acápite, and Revue reCHERches. Culture et Histoire dans l'Espace Roman. She has directed university productions of contemporary Latin American plays and also translated numerous dramatic works written by Latin American dramatists such as Hugo Salcedo, Carlos Canales, and Edeberto Galindo. Her latest translations are We Women (2020) and Miss Esther (2022).
The Director
Eva Zorrilla Tessler, is a native of Ciudad México (CDMX) and has an MFA in Theater Arts, and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. She has worked as a theater artist since 1980 and moved to Tucson in 1989. Tessler has choreographed, directed, and performed extensively, nationally throughout the US and internationally (Brazil, Canada, Portugal ). In Tucson, she has worked with Teatro Dignidad, ATC, Live Theater Workshop, Winding Road, Bloodhut Productions, and Borderlands Theater. She's a founding member of the Latina Dance Theater Project (a national organization that supports the Latina voice through dance and theater) and is the recipient of the 2009 LUME Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2008 Individual Artist LULAC Award.
About Teatro Dignidad
Teatro Dignidad is a human rights theater company working in partnership with Coalición de Derechos Humanos to produce plays and foster art movements that call for the recognition of the inherent dignity of all human beings. This production of 2 Nogales will include guest panels and talk-backs about the impact governments have on asylum seekers on the US border with Mexico.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION: May 9 – 26, 2024
Temple of Music and Art, Cabaret Theater, 330 S Scott Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701 (upstairs)
Public Previews: Thursdays, May 9th & 10th at 7:30pm • Special $10 tickets
(Suggested donation at the door)
Opening Night Celebración! Saturday, May 11th at 7:30pm • Special $25 tickets
Mother's Day Matinee: Sunday, May 12th at 2pm
Thursday Work and Play! Thursdays, May 16th & 23rd at 7:30pm
Regular Performances: May 17th, 18th, 24th, & 25th at 7:30pm
Matinees: Saturday, May 18th & Sunday, May 26th at 2pm
Matinee With Panel & Talkback: Sunday, May 19th at 2pm
Previews $10 • Opening Night $25
General & Senior $20 • Student, Artist, & Military $15
MORE INFORMATION AND TICKET RESERVATIONS: (520) 975-8172
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