Dear Borderlands Supporters,

AN URGENT APPEAL

Today Borderlands Theater is on a Precarious Border of its own. We search for an answer: Do we CLOSE or STAY OPEN? Unfortunately we have less than two months to raise $25,000, or close our doors. We have 25 years of telling stories from the vast complexity of our “Place,” here on the border. Please make a choice and DONATE NOW and allow us to share more stories in the years to come!

TIME LINES: Due to the generosity of our friends in the last month, we have already raised $5,000 toward our goal. We still need to raise $8,000 by June 30th to meet our immediate obligations. We need to raise an additional $12,000 by July 20 to guarantee another season.

HOW TO GIVE: We welcome any amount but would like to remind you if everyone can reach deep into their pockets with an amount of $10, $20, or even $30, we will reach our goal in no time and will end this campaign successfully with our artistic backbone restored. You may use the DONATE NOW button below, send us a check in the mail (Borderlands Theater, P.O. Box 2791, Tucson, AZ, 85702), or call our office (520-882-8607) to make other arrangements.

WHY GIVE?: While ticket sales were up this season and we had a successful Annual Pachanga Fundraiser, individual giving in larger amounts and funding from grants and foundations continues to decline and your ticket purchases cover only about 40% of production costs.

But most of all: We champion the development and production of NEW plays with NEW playwrights and as a founding member of the National New Play Network we have demonstrated this with collaborations with other theaters across the country and in Mexico; We are known nationally and internationally for supporting all voices of the region, including our core Latino/Chicano/Mexicano voices; We are known for partnering with numerous area organizations committed to civic action; and our Education Outreach Program has reached countless young people, especially in rural communities in Southern Arizona.

Go to www.borderlandtheater.org to donate if you can. I attended their poignant production of “No Roosters in the Desert” last Fall (click here)and enjoyed it a lot. Please help if you can.

“The Democracy Forum” on October 30 at the Arizona Historical Society

“Your chance to help address the vitriol, threats and inaccuracies in today’s political climate with a model of decency, generosity and civil discourse”

Schedule below:

1:30 to 2 p.m. Patriotic Costume Contest (with prizes)

2:00 to 4 p.m. “The Democracy Forum”

at the Arizona Historical Society, 949 E. 2nd St. (west of Park Avenue)

Free admission, free refreshments, seating is limited so arrive early.

Moderated by Dr. Peter Likins, President Emeritus of the U of A

Special guests: Congressman Raul Grijalva (D) and Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R). They will each present their “position on immigration and the economy then the audience will ask questions, discuss the issues and vote on them”.

Performance by Borderlands Theater –excerpts from its recent show “Arizona: No Roosters in the Desert,” a play about four Mexican women who endure hardships as they trek across the border toward the “American dream” (read my previous blog about that play here).

Music by Ted Warmbrand (community activist/singer)

Discussion by Dr. Bruce Mason, Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University, will speak about “the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances and explore the history of protest movements in America since colonial days.”

Discussion by Dr. Rudy Byrd, Sons of the American Revolution, will explain “why Spanish soldiers voluntarily sent parts of their salary to the Revolutionary army and how, records show, teenagers and minorities endured extreme hardships to win America’s democracy.”

Video of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and other celebrities
including Morgan Freeman, Reese Witherspoon, and Whoopie Goldberg heralding the
Declaration of Independence and current American freedoms.

“Our forum’s purpose is to counter that trend, exemplifying how bipartisan discussions and disagreement can exist within a context of decency,” said Gloria Kirshner, president of the National Student/Parent Mock Election (NSPME).

Sponsored by the National Student/Parent Mock Election. For more info: call (520) 797-7590, email nspme@aol.com.

The NSPME is the nation’s oldest, largest and most successful voter-education project, dating from 1980. Since the first Mock Election in 1980, nearly 50 million young voters have cast their ballots and, in the process, discovered what it means to be an American citizen and the value of citizenship in our democracy.

Information on show dates/ticket prices from Tucson Peace Calendar website (with some additions/corrections by me):

“No Roosters in the Desert” at Zuzi! Theater, 738 N. 5th Avenue in Tucson, Arizona

A New Play Commissioned by Borderlands Theater by Playwright Kara Hartzler (immigrant attorney/legal director of Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project)

Directed by Barclay Goldsmith

Winner of the Edgerton Foundation American New Play Award and the NEA Access to Excellence!

October 7-24, 2010

Rolling World Premiere sponsored by National New Play Network: Mexico City, Tucson and Chicago

In this riveting play-based on actual interviews by Anna Ochoa O’Leary-four women trek the desert towards the American dream. On their way they push the limits of their physical and emotional endurance, and they establish profound yet fragile connections with each other through the magical storytelling of the youngest of them, an indigenous woman from Chiapas.

Featuring Annabelle Nunez, Anel Schmidt, Eva Zorilla Tessler, and Veronica del Cerro

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE/TICKET INFORMATION:

SUPPORT HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS
AND PURCHASE TICKETS THROUGH DERECHOS HUMANOS
@ 520-770-1373 OR EMAIL CRUZ AT CRUZ@DERECHOSHUMANOSAZ.NET

Preview Performance: October 7, 7:30pm
$17 General, $15 Senior, $10.75 Student

Opening Night Celebración: October 8, 7:30pm
$22 General, Senior and Student
Opening Night Celebración includes postres plus meet and greet the playwright and actors.

Regular Performances: October 9, 15, 16, 22 & 23, 7:30pm &
Sunday Matinees: October 10, 17 & 24, 2 p.m.
$19.75 General, $17.75 Senior, $10.75 Student

Tickets can also be purchased through Borderlands Theater, 40 W. Broadway

RESERVATIONS:
(520) 882-7406 or www.borderlandstheater.org
(For group sales or to arrange accommodations for patrons with disabilities please contact the Box Office.)

Sponsors:
National Endowment for the Arts
Arizona Commission on the Arts
Tucson Pima Arts Council/Kresge Art in Tucson
Dana Foundation
Edgerton Foundation for New American Plays
Lark Play Development Center
National New Play Network (NNPN Rolling World Premiere)
The Smith Prize
University of Arizona College of Humanities
University of Arizona Binational Migration Institute

I first read about this play in ARIZONA Alumnus Magazine (Fall 2010 issue) in an article by Margaret Regan who writes (page 32) that “the four fictional women in the play are going it alone in the desert after becoming separated from the rest of the group. They bond and tell stories and swear they’ll stick together, but when one is injured, the other three are suddenly faced with a moral dilemmma”, which becomes the central drama of the play.

Dr. Anna Ochoa O’Leary wrote a research study entitled “Women at the Intersection: Immigrant Enforcement and Transnational Migration on the U.S. Mexico Border”, which attorney Kara Hartzler read to write this play. Ochoa O’Leary is a UA Assistant Professor of Mexican American and Raza Studies. She had interviewed about 130 women in 2006 & 2007, who had been repatriated back to Mexico.