Borderlands Theater is bringing its site-specific Barrio Stories project back to the plaza where it all began, marking ten years of turning Tucson's lost barrio histories into live performance. The 10-Year Celebration runs Thursday, Nov. 12, through Sunday, Nov. 15, at Tucson Convention Center's Alva B. Torres Plaza, identified as a former site of Barrio Viejo, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
The anniversary festival includes 10 plays and seven activities spread across the four days, according to Borderlands Theater. The Arizona Daily Star identifies Marc David Pinate as the theater's producing director. The Bee Hive operated from 1900 to 1938, according to Borderlands Theater's study guide.
A Speakeasy Rediscovered
Borderlands Theater's study guide describes a Bee Hive speakeasy operating from 1900 to 1938 at the corner of Meyers and Convent in historic Barrio Viejo, a gathering spot for musicians, travelers and locals, according to the Borderlands Theater study guide.
The festival includes a Presidio Museum historian lecture.
Roots in Urban Renewal and Displacement
Borderlands Theater held its inaugural Barrio Stories festival in 2016, staged outdoors downtown, the Arizona Daily Star notes. The study guide traces the project's conception to 2015 and describes it as site-specific theater rooted in place. The Tucson Sentinel reported on that first production, in which Borderlands Theater actors brought to life the oral histories of residents whose homes were lost to the construction of the convention center — a staging that involved 41 principal actors, 75 extras, 10 mariachi groups, four giant puppets and more than 1,000 paper flowers.
Urban renewal brought extensive demolition and displacement to Barrio Viejo during the construction of the Tucson Convention Center, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Borderlands Theater's study guide traces the project's origins to 2015, describing it as an ongoing, site-specific series built around the histories and heritage of Arizona's historic Mexican American neighborhoods. More than 60 current and former residents of Barrio Viejo, Barrio Anita, Barrio Hollywood, Menlo Park and Nogales were interviewed for the project, according to the study guide, and the first installment in 2016 drew on interviews with elders who recounted the destruction of their barrio and their displacement under 1960s-era urban renewal projects.
That history is documented more broadly in Lydia Otero's book “La Calle: Spatial Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City,” the Arizona Daily Star notes.
From Barrio Viejo to Barrio Anita and Beyond
After its downtown debut, Borderlands Theater took Barrio Stories to other Tucson neighborhoods, including Barrio Anita, the Arizona Daily Star reports. The study guide describes subsequent installments in Barrio Anita, Nogales and West Side Stories. Borderlands Theater's study guide adds that after surveying Barrio Anita residents in fall 2017, project artists found that neighbors felt disconnected from one another — and that the project's third iteration was presented over two nights in Nogales, Arizona.
The plays in this year's festival explore neighborhood histories, family stories and Tucson cultural traditions, the Arizona Daily Star reports, performed in repertory ranging from 10-minute plaza performances to 30-minute main stage productions. Featured playwrights include Chanel Bragg, Lydia Otero, Elaine Romero, Veronica Weatherbie, Silviana Wood and Martín Zimmerman, according to the same report. Tucson High theater students will perform one of the plays, and the Tucson High School theater program is set to stage “Los Tres Pueblos” on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Mariachi, Poetry and Hands-On Heritage
Daily poetry readings from the University of Arizona Poetry Center and live mariachi concerts anchor the festival's programming each day, according to Borderlands Theater. Content for the festival also draws on the International Mariachi Conference, with mariachi musicians performing in the courtyard and poetry readers including Mariana Rivera, Eva Sierra, Mele Martinez and Ofelia Zepeda, the Arizona Daily Star reports.
Hands-on activities round out the schedule: a Sonoran flour tortilla-making demonstration with Rachel Pollack and Los Descendientes, oral history workshops with Maribel Alvarez and the Southwest Folklife Alliance, an adobe brick installation with adobe story collection, and the “Chinese Chorizo Project” with Feng-Feng Yeh, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Rio Nuevo is sponsoring a Barrio Stories 10-year retrospective photo exhibit, and the festival also features the “El Pueblo 50: Celebrating the Living Heart of the Southside” pop-up exhibition, per the same report.
Tickets, Tours and Partners
Organizers suggest a $25 donation for festival admission, the Arizona Daily Star reports, while Barrio Viejo walking tours with Trejo's Walking Tours are available separately as a $20 add-on beyond the festival plaza, according to Borderlands Theater. Children's art activities and heritage food vendors round out the grounds, and Borderlands Theater season pass holders receive VIP benefits including reserved seating, parking and a complimentary walking tour, the Arizona Daily Star notes. The anniversary festival has support from sponsors and presenters.
