Eight Poems for a New Theater Century
By NoPassport
In August 2004, South Coast Repertory Theatre
in Costa Mesa, California, shut down its Hispanic Playwrights Project.
In June of 2005, the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles cut all
four of its developmental programs devoted to works by artists of color
and disabled artists. With the closing of these programs, serious questions
have arisen about how multicultural theater work will be supported and
nurtured in this country, whose population is currently one seventh
Latino.
What has been lost is immeasurable. Neither
HPP (as the Hispanic Playwrights Project was known) nor the Taper Labs
(Latino Theatre Initiative, Asian Theater Workshop, Blacksmyths, and
Other Voices) moved many plays to the SCR and Taper mainstages during
their long histories. Yet all provided showcases for artists of color
to be nurtured, commissioned and supported. The programs also provided
a place to meet, exchange ideas and find much needed common artistic
ground. Moreover, a significant industry spotlight was aimed at them,
giving crucial visibility to, and opening doors for, voices too rarely
represented on U.S. stages. The rewards of being part of HPP and the
Taper Labs had less to do with immediate production than with fostering
a national discourse that encouraged Latino/a artists to write for the
theater.
During 2005, I moderated three panels (at
UC-San Diego and UC-Santa Barbara) on American playwriting as seen through
the Latino/a writer's lens. The first two panels (at UCSD) were entitled
"Re-Mapping Latino Theatre: American Playwrights on the Edge of the
Edge." They were co-moderated by Professor Jorge Huerta and included
Ricardo Bracho, Evelyn Cruz, Anne Garcia-Romero, Oliver Mayer, Carlos
Morton, Elaine Romero and Bernardo Solano. The third panel (at UCSB)
was entitled "Latino Theatre Now" and featured Naomi Iizuka in addition
to Bracho, Garcia-Romero, Morton, and (via e-mail) Michael John Garces.
The main themes that emerged from these panels were: a) the conflicting
definitions and perceptions of Latinidad in our culture; b) the impact
of globalization on the writing and presenting of works by U.S.-based
Latino/a playwrights; c) the difficulty of finding artistic homes; and
d) the importance of recording Latino/a theater history for future generations.
Following these panels, a rich (and still
ongoing) conversation began about race, diversity, and the continued
unstable space Latino/a playwrights occupy in this country. A national
coalition devoted to advocacy, mobilization, and change has formed itself
under the name NoPassport--a title previously used for a virtual and
real-live word-song band I founded in 2002. NoPassport's original mission
was to discover new ways of listening to and writing language for performance,
crossing artistic disciplines and making music. It performed in various
configurations at venues in New York, Providence and Minneapolis, and
some of the texts created are archived on Hotreview.org.
The new NoPassport is also a collective devoted to investigating new
ways of making text and performance. However, its vision has expanded
to emphasize the fostering of the hemispheric spirit in U.S. theater,
with an emphasis on U.S. Latina/o & Latin American writing. Geographically,
the members (some of whom are listed after the texts below) extend from
Portland, Oregon, to Miami, Florida.
The selected poems below were written expressly
for the aforementioned panels and were read publicly there by the artists
(and sent via e-mail in Garces's case) as creative calls-to-arms. Intended
for a wider readership than just the panel audiences, they reflect the
passion, frustration, integrity, grit, and honesty of a politically
progressive and activist group of artists.
--Caridad Svich
--------------------------
Re-mapping Our Theatre
By Bernardo Solano
I asked my four year old son how we should remap
the world.
I thought asking him how to remap our theatre was too difficult a question.
He said we needed rescue heroes who could rescue it.
He said people need help because there's water and lava and asteroids
attacking the world.
And the people would die.
And that would be terrible because no one would have goodness.
We should fight for truth.
Because justice means to save the world.
Justice means fighting for good, not bad.
So I thought, I wonder how this relates to remapping
our theatre.
What and where is our theatre, anyway?
Is it in Pomona, where I teach?
Is it somewhere else?
Is it for other people?
Other people who share a language other than English?
I thought I saw something in this dialogue with
my son.
So I asked him what kind of theatre he wanted.
He said, "A fighting theatre…
With paintings of fighting people.
Lots of boys would go there and say "Cool!"
And shows. Lots of shows.
Boys who save girls. Girls who save boys."
Stories. This is me, now.
Stories, however small, however populated by characters with accents,
Characters who have names ending with the letter "o" and "a",
Characters who believe in spirituality and courage and justice.
Justice has been on my mind lately.
I teach my students that one way to write a play is to write as if you
can right the wrong, whatever that wrong may be.
Maybe remapping our theatre should be about rewriting.
Taking the texts of our lives and revising them.
Adding the commas that will clarify, illuminate and transform these
texts into something sadly beautiful, magnificently angry, utterly true.
Highly ornate or stripped bare so only the marrow is visible.
Whatever the style,
The intent is the same.
To seek truth.
To seek justice.
Villains come in all shapes and sizes…and accents.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes…and accents.
This new map may not save the world.
It may not save anyone.
But as all good hero stories say at one point or another…
It's the trying that matters.
--------------------------------
Red Fluid Pumped from
the Heart
(for all the Latino playwrights)
by Elaine Romero
Words,
like blood,
spill in a war for volume
and control unattained.
Stories,
like tea leaves,
tell who dwelled here
who they loved and how much.
We,
Like mirrors,
echo our matchless moment
this when this who and this what.
English,
Like Okay and Disneyland.
replace Spanish words
until we say it just right.
All,
Like skilled lovers,
embody the other with
fluid grace.
Until . . .
An epiphany
Like a pause,
Pregnant with innovation and
original thought.
A new deal,
Like a contract,
Signed in our reconstituted
blood.
Our plays,
Like skin sacrifices,
take a chunk of flesh
to be real.
Identity
Like DNA,
Restrung to make room for
the you the me and the inarticulate.
Forms reshaped,
like candle wax,
in our hands with
ever-changing fingerprints.
------------------------------------
Tierra
By Anne Garcia-Romero
We excavate the authenticity of the earth, la
tierra
To honor the plethora of voices, faces, voces
To hurtle through time, ages and epocas
To traverse geography, continentes, islas, cities, pueblos
To highlight our hybridity, our transculturation, our identidad
To widen our scope, our view, nuestra vista
To enlarge our spirits, nuestros espiritus
And transform the waking world.
------------------------------------
Stanza One
By Jorge Huerta
How does it feel to be the voice of a people?
What do you say
when a critic assumes you speak for
all Latinos?
Do you smile a Mona Lisa grin and bear it
Or
Do you correct their misperception
Of who YOU are?
For as you know,
nobody can speak
For an entire community;
Because there is no one community.
But communities
Of artists and artisans,
Musicians and poets,
Playwrights, composers and actors,
All eager to be heard,
Like you.
So don't listen and don't answer the
Foolish critics who think they know
Who you really are.
And don't grin and bear it, either.
Go home and write, write, write
Because that is what you do best.
--------------------------------
For my dear family
By Evelyn Diaz Cruz
Querida familia, we have come through so much
together
That at times, I can't help but marvel, at all the beauty before me.
Our ancestors survived atrocities we can only imagine, in their struggle
to be free
With such ravages, should it surprise us,
that dysfunction should also be a part of this legacy?
At times we have found ourselves searching for the strength, though
feeling a great abandon
How is it we survived the odds of our socio-economics, physical malaise,
mental illnesses, and other circumstances… with such little guidance?
Too many have been the times we were confronted with challenges, attesting
to how much we can take
Yet pa'lante, siempre pa'lante, persevering with dignity,
if for nothing else but our children's sake
Querida familia, if I could have you consider
our world of sacred imagery,
such as the cross and the Virgin Mary
Inclusive of the protection from our African ancestors,
in the azabache that I still carry
We find our spirits are blended in the luminescence of candles and yet,
I am also struck
By our connection to La Madama's blackness for prosperity and good luck
Our collective psyche records such imagery,
like Kermit the Frog along with El Coqui
As we watch the news on 20/20 and Ocurio Asi,
500 years since colonization and a pilon still smashes my garlic
While sofrito sautés for dinner, my computer boot has started
Children of Borinquen... A gente so dynamic we sway to the music of
Michael Jackson and the Beatles, who live in our mente
But we also have the music of our La Lupe and Tito Puente
The world is changing, and we as a people? Will we be dominated again?
Denied access?
Be further marginalized and inherit yet more strife?
Frightening thoughts for people of color,
these are the questions that keep me up some nights.
My heart responds to the bluebird who visits me often: I know she is
Yemaya.
She first came when my heart was quite heavy, y alli siempre esta.
Querida familia, of one thing I am convinced,
the blood of our ancestors strengthens our bones
Our family, our friends, our community will always welcome us home
Remember, querida familia, the only reason we have arrived at this earth
Is because our ancestors SURVIVED and WE are their proud rebirth.
The beating heart that proves our spirits were always free
A brilliant and yet defiant testimony!
I look out my window directly above my computer
screen and see
The hummingbirds our ancestor Tainos have
sent to me
Yet another symbol of good luck that the ancient ones professed
I wish you all, my querida familia, blessings, bright light and nothing
less.
-----------------------------------
de la cama al piso y a
la calle
(poema necesario)
by Michael John Garces
La negación no basta, y se llega
a negaciones de negaciones
-- Borges, "La personalidad y el Budda"
mañana por la mañana hoy en día sin cesar -
me fuí iré salgo por entre me asomo sobre entro por dentro me escondo
por donde
muslos hombros nalga garganta pene nariz - me voy ayer tras anteayer
-
todo un cuerpo descompuesto - intacto - íntegro -
moriré - ni mudo ni ciego - negando sin fin las
negaciones:
negando silencio suena que suena negando color memoria sombra y tiniebla
y lo que da luz dado a luz niego la nunca jamás y eternal para siempre
el rechazo del viento niego - niego el mar brutal sin cesar
la idea vida o muerte idea única idea total
niego en voz alta la primera palabra mas la última
la mera pregunta la respuesta posible - la única
sudor miserable y sueño desamparado la madrugada insólita
algún reloj cualquiera tragando hora por hora vida tras vida sin gusto
sin hambre
la duda de cada día el aburro borroso cada noche
callendo callada
ni sol ni luna ni siquiera una sola estrella quemando
un solo grito de hielo una carcajada carnívora alguna sensación
el temor furtivo de una afuera agotada un adentro humeante una pared
sin puerta
algún sentido siempre y cuando siquiera eso y no más
ni menos - ni eso mismo - ni poema ni prosa ni
un deseo seco
niego la razón el porqué la contesta correcta niego el cuando el donde
el cuál y el cómo
te niego y me niego estando aquí contigo niego lo escrito - lo dicho
las ganas la sed siendo hueca la lengua seca vientre podrido ojo gastado
iré me voy me fuí llegando - llendo - me vuelvo
envuelto lo antes imposible
niego aunque no se puede no se deja no soy capaz de negar
tengo no más lo que no puedo no me atrevo no he de vivir
y con eso aguanto - con eso puedo - con eso - lo niego - solo eso -
negando aguantando
eso y más nada negando lo negado siguiendo lo deshecho lo niego sin
cesar
--------------------------------
Word Cry
By Caridad Svich
There is the language that is
And the language that you make,
And then there is the language you take
From what there is, and what you make
To create.
It's a whole mess of language
And some say it won't amount to anything at day's end,
Cause there's always going to be a new language ready and waiting
To displace and replace what came before.
But there are words, and then there are words,
And then there are words upon words
That make a kind of wave,
And it's this wave I'm talking about,
It's this wave
That's changing the day to day, and the day gone past too.
And what a wave it is
this tidal wave of struts and acentos and whispers sweet;
oh what a wave
this onda of the mil-enio de mil genios;
how it moves from one pueblo to another
from one barrio to another
from ciudad en ciudad
like a highwayman or a salesman
restless with ambition -
an ambition of disinhibition,
porque que mas da?
A quien le importa?
Who's going to take the time to notice that
Every day, minute by minute,
What you say sounds more like what ellos dicen
Alli, pues, down there
In the low countries and the high ones too
Where the strut is a way of being,
A way of survival against the waves
Of those itching to arrazar con todo
Y no dejar huella,
No dejar pulga
De lo que fue, es y sera siempre
Nuestro mundo.
Ay, la dicha
Ay, the eternal cry
The lamentation we all understand
Even without words.
Ay….
And how we mock it and embrace it and kick it
And even shun it -
Hell no, that word don't belong to me, bro -
But still we respond
To its unvoiced …
Cause well
It's part of us
Even if we're fifth generation down the line
Once removed on our cousin's side -
Just as those old-sounding words
Up from the hills shoutin' and a-hollerin'
With reckless, murderous promise
Bout this land here and them folk there,
Are a part of us
all the way from what's-gotta-be ancient time.
Porque Ay
Is eternal
Como el amor eterno
Like the old bolero
You love to hate
And sing anyway
Come Karaoke time.
Ay es como el fondo
The deep bottom
Of the earth
That we sometimes don't recognize
Cause well, who wants to touch bottom
When you can glide the surface glide of the everyday
In this come-what-pay world?
But we listen, que no?
Every once in a while we let ourselves listen
And that's when we remember
The deep song
That's been wandering the earth,
Borderless, unwanted, undaunted
From Africa to Turkey to Romania to Spain
To las Americas y Australia y quien sabe
Donde mas, che…
Because this song is ever mutating
Ever migrating
Ever exiled
And always home.
What song this is
This language without words
These words without son ni ron;
What song is this that lives
Inside this made-up, broken, stolen tongue
We claim
not only for ourselves
but for everyone.
Ay, we breathe…
-------------------------------
To The Artistic Directors
of SCR (among others)
By Oliver Mayer
Have we arrived?
Are we there yet?
(I don't remember
that we ever left.)
The statement signifies
we somehow went away.
So we've arrived --
what does that mean?
Your mouths move but
are you saying anything?
To a point, I agree
We have arrived (I hope)
from ignorance, stupidity,
from racial generality,
from mainstream invisibility,
having to apologize or shine
our way onto your season.
A human life, observed
A sense of humor, freed
A quirk of language
Crash of culture, mangled
Melded, made, a
Drama without artifice
Unmanipulated, there
To be lived in each
Latino piece of pop
Or art or both
Ni modo --
No matter where we go
This is always here
This is always now
This is always us
We advanced the race --
the human race --
About five hundred years ago
and every day a little more --
So yes, we're here.
We bought the ticket
and we're staying for the show,
to witness who's arrived
for reals -- not words but verbs
We're an active audience
We know the getting there
never ends, and
that's okay, 'cause getting there
means we're alive; the answer
is we're very much alive
The question is,
Have you arrived?
-------------------------------
Core members of NoPassport are currently: Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya,
Lizzet Alvarez, Ricardo Bracho, Leo Cabranes-Grant, Juliette Carrillo,
Jorge Cacheiro, Cusi Cram, Migdalia Cruz, Evelyn Cruz, Christine Evans,
Rafael deAcha, Michael John Garces, Amparo Garcia-Crow, Magdalena Gomez,
Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Jorge Huerta, Naomi Iizuka,
Daniel Jaquez, John Jesurun, Ashley Lucas, Eduardo Machado, Lillian
Manzor, Oliver Mayer, Rene Moreno, Alejandro Morales, Carlos Murillo,
Carlos Morton, Lorenzo Mans, Lisa Portes, Jesus Reyes, Carmen Rivera,
Jose Rivera, Elaine Romero, Anne Garcia-Romero, Eddie Sanchez, Olga
Sanchez, Luis Santiero, Paul Slee, Bernardo Solano, Octavio Solis, Andrea
Thome, Enrique Urueta, Tamara Underiner, and Karen Zacarias.