Guadalupe Cultural Arts Heart’s Theater Arts Program Presents CHATO’S BRIDGE

Written by Mono Riojas Aguilar and directed by Georgette Maria Lockwood, “Chato’s Bridge” shall be held on the historic Guadalupe Theater from March 23-March 26, offered by the Guadalupe Cultural Artwork Heart’s Theater Arts program. Set in San Antonio’s Westside in 1979, the story is about Chale and Simon. These life-long camaradas are sure by a tragedy that occurred 30 years earlier than. “Chato’s Bridge” addresses points of affection, loyalty, and vengeance.

San Antonio playwright Mono Riojas Aguilar’s first manufacturing of “Chato’s Bridge” premiered in 2014 at San Antonio School’s McAllister Auditorium as part of the English Division’s Hispanic Heritage Month Sequence. Aguilar, a Professor of English on the faculty, acquired a really constructive response from the college and viewers in attendance. The play opened for an viewers of over 300, the second largest viewers for a Hispanic Heritage Month occasion within the faculty’s historical past.

“Chato’s Bridge” is a gritty however not gratuitous have a look at the harsher facets of barrio life portrayed by these two lifelong associates, Chale and Simon, whose loyalty to one another and their misplaced associates is absolute, as is their drive for vengeance. They have to perform their retribution earlier than the undercover cop who has infiltrated their gang shuts them down. Unknown to them, a long-lost determine from their previous is serving as their guardian angel.

The manufacturing’s abstract contains “In 1979, 4 boys tried to save lots of a little bit woman from a monstrously evil act. Two of the 5 died, and the survivors by no means misplaced their sorrow and rage. It is time for revenge-West Facet fashion.”

“Chale and Simon have been suffering from survivor’s guilt for 3 a long time, and the reminiscence of their murdered associates by no means leaves them. Dolores and Doña Sandoval have completed a greater job getting on with their lives. however they, too, are haunted,” stated Aguilar. “The love these survivors have for his or her lifeless associates mixes with loyalty, rage, and a necessity for revenge, whatever the prices.”

“It is a story of what occurs after we are unable to interrupt the cycle of trauma that got here earlier than. Chale and Simon are like Pancho and Lefty, or Butch and Sundance. They stroll hand in hand by means of their hometown barrio figuring out that their short-fused tempers will get the most effective of them. Simon appears to be maintain the reality of the story when he tells his camarada, ‘I am sorry, see, however that was a very long time in the past. You need to let it drop,’ however each are fated to carry onto their rage till the top,” added Lockwood.

“To supply and carry out this Westside barrio story within the coronary heart of the Westside is a no brainer for us on the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Heart,” stated Jorge Piña, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Heart’s Theater Arts Program Director. “We’re proud to current this manufacturing at a theater based by Chicano artists who’ve formed the cultural experiences of San Antonio’s residents. We anticipate individuals will present up not simply from the Westside, but additionally from throughout San Antonio,” he added.

Piña lived within the neighborhood together with his younger household for a few years whereas occasions, much like these depicted within the play occurred. Not solely does he relate firsthand to the realities of these instances within the Westside, however he additionally brings a straight lineage to the unique Theater Program created on the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Heart within the early eighties by Piña and others below the management of former Guadalupe Govt Director Pedro Rodriguez.

“Chato’s Bridge” didn’t have a lot of a price range when it first opened in 2014. Aguilar labored with restricted sources, doing a lot of the work concerned within the staging himself, and dealing “al golpe.” Whereas the play adheres to facets of Chicano theater custom, this new staging provides the upper manufacturing worth that the script deserves, together with a proficient solid, designers, and director Georgette Maria Lockwood in her directorial debut following a profitable profession as a stage actress.

This newest model of “Chato’s Bridge” additionally provides a extra outstanding place to robust feminine characters, having modified the gender of one of many fundamental characters from the unique male SAPD detective to a troublesome feminine detective.

This occasion is sponsored by the Metropolis of San Antonio Division of Arts & Tradition, Nationwide Efficiency Community, and Texas Fee on the Arts.