Spring, the unofficial season of culture nights, will add
another event to its repertoire this weekend with A Night of
Cultura production. “The Last American Bar” is the
first-ever Chicano/Raza/Latino/Hispanic culture night and will take
place at the Northwest Campus Auditorium this Friday and
Saturday.
Rocio Lopez, a third-year Latin American studies student,
thought of the idea last spring after seeing numerous other culture
nights and plans to make it an annual event. “I’m sure
other people often wondered “˜Why don’t we have a
culture night?'” she said. “And I just kind of
got the guts to start one.”
While other culture nights, like the Pilipino Culture Night,
have been established for as long as 30 years, the Latin American
community had never attempted such a production.
“Before, (the Latin American community) would do more
talent shows, … and last year they had the Chicano Theater
Festival, but this is the first time there has been a culture
night,” said Martin Terrones, a theater directing graduate
student.
Lopez was definitely not interested in another talent show. She
wanted a cohesive play with a message for the community. With the
help of third-year comparative literature student and executive
director Maricela Mevza and theater graduate student and artistic
director Rafael Agustin, Lopez rounded up a 10-person writing team
to create the script.
“We just had so many ideas. … One culture night, two
hours, cannot do justice to every issue that is important to almost
two continents,” said Lopez.
The play tells the story of a group of strangers who encounter
each other at a bar right before they are about to cross the border
into the United States.
This highly dramatic moment in immigration is the focus of the
play. The bartender, an undercover journalist, learns about the
fears and excitement of the characters crossing the border through
their stories and dance.
“My character (the bartender) is in search of answers. Why
do people cross? What are they leaving behind? She is in search of
motivations for why (the immigrants) are coming over here and
taking such a big risk,” said Irma Lule, a third-year Spanish
student.
The production isn’t officially billed as a Chicano,
Latino or Hispanic culture night because the directors want to
ensure that all people from the Americas feel included in the
project. Incorporating all the different cultures was a challenge,
Lopez said, but the central issue of immigration created a theme to
which all different groups could relate.
“A lot of (the play) is based on true stories, and the
committee that wrote it has experienced it; their family has
experienced it. That’s how they came up with the immigrant
experience,” said actor Jennifer Chavez, a fourth-year
American literature and Chicana/o studies student.
The stories are told through juxtaposing moments of joy and
crisis. In one scene, a Colombian theater worker explains that he
must escape impending murder by the government, minutes before his
flashback to a lively salsa scene.
The dramatic script calls for a group of talented actors and
dancers. At first, the creators were concerned about a potential
lack of people auditioning for something that has never been done
before, but those worries were quickly put to rest.
“I am so thankful to all the people who trusted us when we
were telling them that this was going to work,” Lopez said.
“Almost 200 people came out (in the four days of
auditioning).”
The momentum for “The Last American Bar” appears to
have taken off, and according to Lopez, there’s no turning
back now, as she only sees the production growing from here.
“I see it becoming … a tradition,” she said.
“And hopefully in 30 years we can say, “˜The 30th Annual
Night of Cultura here at UCLA.'”