Teatro Milagro breaks the binary
Bilingual theater company performs on campus
BY MERARI CALDERON RUIZ
How many times have you had your voice shut
down or not even heard at all? Just because a
person may be of a different race or speak another
language doesn’t mean we can’t relate.
Teatro Milagro performed a play on Oct. 21 called
“ Searching for A ztlan.” The captivating plot of
this play takes place in Arizona. It starts out with
Dolores Huelga, a teacher, trying to fight for the
Mexican-American Studies and the Tucson school
board members wanting to eliminate them. After
a sudden dust storm, Huelga is on a quest to find
the mythical land of Atzlan, and on her way she
meets a Hispanic immigrant, a militant Chicano
and the “ High-Spanic,” one character’ s silly name
for herself.
It was an outstanding production that not only
caught the attention of our community, but also
people throughout the world. Ajai Terrazas Tripathi,
Monica Domena, Shenekah Telles and Jeo Alva all
form a part of the actors in the theater company.
Every year since 1989, Teatro Milagro has toured
and performed around the world. Of course, the
actors have changed throughout the years, but the
purpose is still the same.
As to why our school had the opportunity to be a
part of that, CCC instructor Irma Bjerre said, “The
performance, which has to do with an important
Terrazas Tripathi said, “ I think the message
of the show, for me, is that knowledge is the
ultimate power. It’s having knowledge of yourself ;
knowledge of your culture, knowledge of your
history, your ancestors, is a powerful thing. If it
wasn’t powerful then why would people be trying
to take it away from us?”
Its unique performance, which included English
and Spanish dialogue, really got you to listen more
closely, unless you are already bilingual. The acting,
sound cues, wardrobe and art in the background
created the perfect image of Campesino Theater.
Domena touched on the voting power of Latinos
after the performance. Domena said, “ We have so
much power, we don’t use it as much as we should.
We are a huge demographic, so vote.”
On a personal level, watching the actors perform
Although Teatro Milagro performs plays with
great enthusiasm and humor, their m essage this amazing play has made me appreciate even
personally impacts the audience. Sam Levi said, more my own background of being Hispanic and
“As a white person, you know, living in the country being a part of this culture, knowing how much
there were a lot of those things that I could not we, as a race, have fought for our own freedom
relate to, but not in a bad way, it made me more and how throughout the years we have created an
empathetic to that. And I could relate to being impact on society. Teatro Milagro has captured the
frustrated about your voice not being heard. I could attention of many throughout the world by sharing
definitely relate to people jumping to conclusions its humor, friendship and the determination to
about what you’re trying to do without letting you stand up for what you believe in.
finish.”
historical issue that affected Hispanic Americans at
a point in history, exposes our college community
to a movement that fought for their civil rights.
This helps us understand the diversity of our
community.”
“We have so much
power, we don’t use it
as much as we should.”
Monica Domena
jto by Uly Shaver
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