DETAINED IN THE DESERT
by Josefina Lopez
This satirical drama explores the anti-immigrant atmosphere in Arizona, the rise in violence against Latinos fueled by extremist media, and the plight of undocumented immigrants.
November 10, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 11, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 12, Saturday, 8:00 pm
November 17, Thursday, 8:00 pm
November 18, Friday, 8:00 pm
November 19, Saturday, 2:30 pm Matinee
November 19, Saturday, 8:00 pm<
ARTS Building – Studio Theatre, ARTS 113
Tickets: (951) 827-4331 $14.00 General admission, $12.00 Students and Seniors
Parking: $5.00 in Lot 1 (No fee with UC permit)
The Department of Theatre at the University of California, Riverside, is pleased to present DETAINED IN THE DESERT, a play by Josefina Lopez, writer of the award-winning film Real Women Have Curves.
The play tells the stories of Sandi Sanchez, a second-generation Hispanic American, and Lou Becker, a “Hate Talk” radio show host. In converging stories, Sandi is arrested as an “illegal immigrant” when, in protest to the new Arizona law, she refuses to show her identification and Lou is kidnapped by three people who want to avenge a murder caused by his hate speech. Both Sandi and Lou end up in the desert and in their struggles to survive they discover their true identities and come to understand the plight of undocumented immigrants crossing the border.
While Lopez wrote DETAINED IN THE DESERT in response to the Arizona’s law SB 1070, she also wanted to explore the motives behind hate speech. “I wonder if the men at the forefront of this ‘hate talk’ and fear of immigration are aware that they have blood on their hands. They have a right to freedom of speech but they must realize that spreading hate causes more hate.” In this play we learn that words have power, they can hurt or they can heal.
Linking the stories of characters with different relationships to citizenship creates a richly-dramatic evening of theatre and encourages audiences to think about the politics of immigration and their own views on the subject. In DETAINED IN THE DESERT, Josephina Lopez has shone a light on this important issue that touches the lives of every citizen of California and of the country.
JOSEFINA LOPEZ (Playwright) is the award-winning writer of the Sundance Audience Award-winning film Real Women Have Curves. She is a playwright, screenwriter, poet and novelist. She is the founder of CASA 0101 Theater where she presents plays, film festivals, and teaches and empowers a new generation of Latino and women writers. She is currently working on the musical version of Real Women Have Curves for Broadway and on her next novel The Ave Maria Bed & Breakfast, which explores the different stages of womanhood and the influx of Anglo-Americans in Mexico and South America. Visit hungrywomaninparis.comand Josefinalopez.com for more information.
ERIC BARR (Director) teaches acting and directing classes and regularly directs in the UCR season. In recent years he has directed such departmental productions as Nickel and Dimed, The Rocky Horror Show, The Sea Gull, Angels in America, The Visit and Metamorphoses. For five years he was the Artistic Director of the Porthouse Theatre, a professional summer stock company in Cleveland, Ohio. He taught acting and movement for actors at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting in Los Angeles and worked as an acting coach with the National Theatre of the Deaf. He received his MFA from Wayne State University in Detroit and studied at Ècole Jacques LeCoq in Paris. He is the Founding Director of the Palm Desert MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts program. His story Without a Leg to Stand On was published by Connotation Press and A Thousand Cuts, his recent screenplay currently in post-production, was co-written with Charles Evered and Marty James, and stars Academy Award nominee Michael O’Keefe. You can listen to his weekly podcasts on acting, Notes on Acting, at www.actingis.com or on iTunes.
HAIBO YU (Scenic Designer) is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and The Society of British Theatre Designers. He received his BFA from the Central Academy of Drama, in China, an MA from the University of Leeds, in England, and an MFA equivalent from Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, London. He has worked in theatre, film, and television in Europe, China, Hong Kong, and the United States. His design credits include: The Adventure of Pør Quinly for South Coast Repertory; The Little Prince, and Tea for Sacramento Theatre Company; Convenience for Human Race Theatre, Ohio; Modigliani for Elephant Theatre, Los Angeles; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Women of Windsor, and As You Like It for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival; Stone Angel for Broomsberry Theatre, London; Whale for Haragate Theatre, England; Casablanca, The Dance (Associate Designer) for Warner Brothers Film; The Opium War for Xie-Jin Films and The Foreign Moon for Media Asia (Hong Kong) and BBC Films. He was a co-author of the book Devised and Collaborative Theatre and is skilled in the use of digital technology in theatre design.
NOËLLE RAFFY (Costume Designer) is an accomplished freelance designer, and has created costumes for numerous stage productions including Guys and Dolls, The Eumenides, Love and Bones and La Danserie. She has worked on a wide range of films that include Robin Hood, Adventureland, Bridge to Nowhere, Shelter and the Oscar-nominated film The Road. She was Head of Costume for the English National Ballet School in London where she also worked with The Tricycle Theatre and Academy Costumes. She exhibited her designs for The Birds in the Prague Quadrennial (2007) and designed costumes for The Orestia Trilogy, which was voted “Best Play of 2007” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While at Otis College of Art and Design, she was awarded the Rudi Gernreich Scholarship by the Fashion Group International of Los Angeles.
RYANN DEL PRADO (Lighting Designer) is a UCR alumna and Chancellor’s Performance Award winner. At UCR, she was Stage Manager on Nym and the Bull, Assistant Stage Manager on New Play Festival 2011, Lighting Designer for Mercury, Mars and Mayhem, Assistant Lighting Designer for Metamorphoses, and Assistant to the Lighting Designer for The Marriage of Figaro. Elsewhere, she stage-managed The Wiz and The Haunting of Hillhouse at the Porthole Theatre, as well as designed lighting for Velocity—A Dance Concert, Fiddler on the Roof and The Odd Couple. She is a graduate of Dana Hills High School and the South Orange County School of the Arts.
GLEN DUNZWEILER (Sound Designer) has an MFA in Lighting and Sound Design from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and is the resident Lighting and Sound Designer for the UCR Department of Theatre. He has designed for the Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Henlopen Theatre Project in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and International City Theatre in Long Beach, California. While in Las Vegas, he was the Resident Designer for the UNLV Dance Department and worked for the moving light company VariLite Production Services. In 2005, his work was featured in the ‘How I Did That’ section of Lighting Dimensions Magazine. He has worked with sculpture artist Randy Cooper on lighting his Shadow Sculptures, has written a new theatrical work The Bad Play, and has recently produced a feature-length documentary about the middle-class homeless called yHomeless?.
TICKET AVAILABILITY: (951) 827-4331
Advance Tickets: available at the University Theatre Fine Arts Ticket Office, Monday – Friday, 10am – 3pm.
Walk-Up Tickets: available at the ARTS Building Ticket Office one hour before each performance.
Ticketmaster: (213) 480-3232, (714) 740-2000, www.ticketmaster.com