Washington’s Little Central America – Prensa Latina

“It’s kind of theatre, a little bit of poetry, in there mixing genres with testimonials,” Rubén Rodriguez told Prensa Latina minutes after the show wrapped.

Written in Four Hands with Elia Arce, the idea of ​​the show was to tell the “history of the forced migration of the natives of Central America from the so-called Northern Triangle into this country”.

In particular – the writer, actor and professor from Los Angeles – explained the orientation of this area of ​​​​Washington, D.C., to immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador in the 1980s.

He referred to a mass exodus that occurred as a result of US interventions in the region, violating the will of the peoples.

“This forced migration is happening and ‘little Mesoamerica’ has settled across the United States and has been one of the most nourished communities here in Washington, DC,” he noted.

Rodriguez added that the GALA commissioning took place on Sunday at the United Church of All Souls, located right “at the intersection of 16th Street, Harvard and Columbia Road, which served as a hub for little Central America” ​​at the time.

For his part, Arce commented that the work was done to honor the Sanctuary movement that was created in the United States in those 1980s at the time of the wave of immigration.

At the same time, she said that the connection between art, spirituality, and social justice is very important to her. “I always think these three elements are intertwined,” he said.

In addition to performances by Rodriguez and Arce, Little Central America, 1984, featured performances by a group of well-known professional artists in the Washington, D.C. area such as Lilo Gonzalez and Quick Aviles, community activists such as Lucy Murphy and Sonia Umanzor.

The Salvadoran immigrant of the period in which the work was included, Umanzor put on the scene the testimony of her life. He assured this news agency: “It seems that we will die on the road, but no.”

He added that the work reveals many of our struggles, pains, and sufferings, as well as what we are: strength, energy, courage, and the desire to continue fighting, so it remains a great hope.

The large liturgical space of the Church of All Souls, Unitarian, – converted into a theater room – was the best setting the Teatro GALA could choose for the opening of its 38th season.

Coincidentally, the church was founded in 1821—the same year that the five Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica gained their independence from the then Spanish capital.

Data from professional organizations show that the number of Central American immigrants in the United States has grown more than 10 times since 1980 and 25 percent since 2010.

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