2014-2015 Season

Borderlands Theater proudly announces its 29th season Blood Ties: En Familia with three exceptional productions- two of them World Premieres and one performed alternately in English and Spanish- that explore the bonds of love, solidarity and memory between individuals, their families and their communities.

They Call Me a Hero

They Call Me a Hero

by Guillermo Reyeys Directed by Barclay Goldsmith

Based on the memoirs of Daniel Hernandez, the 20 year old intern who saved Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s life and became a national hero, THEY CALL ME A HERO examines the life of an unexpected hero thrown into a whirl-wind of publicity. As his private life becomes public, Daniel’s family and upbringing in South Tucson provides the backbone that empowers him.

September 25th-October 5th 2014

Opening Night $24, General $20, Senior $17, Student $14 (group rates and various discounts available) Please call the Borderlands Box Office (520)882-7406 to make your reservations. ZUZI’S Theater, 738 N. 5th Ave.


Absence/El Ausente

ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE

by Victor Hugo Rascon Banda. Translated by Caridad Svich
Directed by Eva Tessler & Victor Carpinteiro

In this drama by one of Mexico’s most prolific and widely produced playwrights, three generations of a Mexico City family endure the absence of a son, husband, and father who has left for the United States in search of work. As the family’s situation deteriorates, a sighting of their absent loved one catapults the play to its surprising ending.

February 12th-22nd 2015

Opening Night $24, General $20, Senior $17, Student $14 (group rates and various discounts available) Please call the Borderlands Box Office (520)882-7406 to make your reservations. ZUZI’S Theater, 738 N. 5th Ave.

After a succesful run at Zuzi Theatre we have only two special performances left!

CENTER FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE- 225 E 26th St.

2/27 & 2/28 SPANISH PERFORMANCES / ACTUACIONES EN ESPAñOL 7:30 pm.
Donations Accepted / Donaciones Aceptadas.


Border’s Edge

Borderlands Theater showcases Tucson’s avant-garde performance community in its latest venture, Border’s Edge: On the Edges of Performance. The stellar showcase features performances by word-slanger, Logan Phillips, performance artists Denise Uyehara and Milta Ortiz, acrobatics by Natalie Brewster Nguyen and Selena Tang of Flight School Acrobatics, and spoken word by Enrique Garcia (full biographies below).

A departure from the traditional theatre productions that Borderlands is known for, Border’s Edge is the brainchild of new Producing Director, Marc David Pinate. “There is a sizable community of individuals experimenting with form, pushing the boundaries of performance in Tucson, and an ever-growing audience for this cutting edge work,” said Pinate. Borderlands seeks to build bridges to these alternative styles of performance, introducing long-time patrons to new forms while attracting new audiences to the 29 year-old theatre company.

Attendees can expect to be immersed in a mind-bending, interdisciplinary, multimedia experience while performers, as living museum pieces, take over the outdoor courtyard of Borderlands Theater’s office building. Performance artist Denise Uyehara will dawn a giant paper kimono with twenty foot long arms as part of a piece called Jomon/Jámon which examines Okinawan identity and authenticity. Milta Ortiz explores marriage and feminine identity in her performance. Natalie Nguyen and Selena Tang perform a duet called Double Crossers that plays with twins, acrobatics, and the Asian female action heroine archetype. Interwoven throughout the night, spoken word poets Enrique Garcia and Logan Philips read from their recently published books, Tortoise Boy Says and Sonoran Strange, respectively.

Border’s Edge is a fundraiser for Borderlands Theater. All performers have generously donated their time and creative efforts. The event takes place Thursday, March 5 at 7pm. Admission is $10 – $20 sliding scale, at the door. Borderlands Theater is located at 40 W. Broadway in downtown Tucson. Parking is available on the street or nearby lots. For more information call (520) 882-8607.


River City

NNPN ROLLING WORLD PREMIERE

RIVER CITY

by Diana Grisanti
Directed By Esther Almazán

Shaken by her father’s death, Mary sets off to uncover three generations’ worth of secrets buried in the West End of Louisville, Kentucky. River City charts Mary’s discoveries, which span four decades, and investigates race, memory, and the ghosts that haunt one American family.

April 9 through April 26.

Performance times are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 P.M. with Sunday matinees at 2:00 P.M. Opening Night $24, General $20, Senior $17, Student $14 (group rates and various discounts available) Please call the Borderlands Box Office (520)882-7406 to make your reservations.

ZUZI’S Theater, 738 N. 5th Ave,

All performances will be at ZUZI, 738 N. 5th Ave. Tickets can be purchased online here or by phone at (520) 882-7406. For more information please call (520) 882-8607.

Click here for more play info, cast bios and headshots…


Barclay’s Tribute Dinner & Pachanga

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After 29 years as founder and producing director of Borderlands Theater, Barclay Goldsmith is retiring. We invite the Tucson and national community to join us in honoring him and his longtime artistic vision since 1986. To celebrate his legacy the Pachanga Tribute Dinner will be held April 25, 2015, at 6pm at the YWCA, 525 N. Bonita Avenue, Tucson. Tickets $50, $400 for a table (seats 8) Click here to purchase a ticket!

Barclay began his Tucson theater career by helping to found Teatro Libertad in the 1970s and began his theater teaching career by working in the Theater Department at Pima Community College in the 1990s. There he and others presented plays and developed The Border Playwrights Program and the U.S./Mexico Program.

Never one to shy away from the most pressing issues, Barclay has long presented plays to the Tucson community that other companies would not. His artistic choices have been recognized nationally including the Arizona Governor’s Arts Award and the Tucson Pima Arts Council “Lumies” Lifetime Achievement Award.

Barclay Goldsmith has been and continues to be a pioneer in American theater, locally and nationally. We hope you will support this important event to ensure his legacy at Borderlands continues.

The Pachanga Tribute Dinner will be held April 25, 2015, at 6pm at the YWCA, 525 N. Bonita Avenue, Tucson. Tickets $50, $400 for a table (seats 8) Click here to purchase a ticket!

Sponsored by:
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Barrio Monologues

BARRIO MONOLOGUES

Trio Upward Bound Youth perform dramatic readings of Tucson’s Hispanic Heritage

Saturday May 16th, 2015
Sosa-Carillo-Fremont House Museum
151 South Granada Avenue Tucson, AZ 85701

FREE event!
4pm- 5pm dramatic readings of monologues with introduction by Dr. Lydia Otero.
5pm-6pm pan dulce and refreshments will be served.

Borderlands Theater presents an afternoon of dramatic readings of monologues, with an introduction by Dr. Lydia Otero. Students from Trio Upward Bound Program at Pima’s Desert Vista campus will perform monologues, shaped from interview transcriptions of former inhabitants of Tucson’s oldest barrio, sometimes known as Barrio Libre or La Calle, neighboring El Hoyo. This event marks the end of phase 1 of the Barrio Stories Project. This performance is the culmination of a college credit course, Theatricalizing Oral Histories, where students interviewed primary informants with the assistance of an Anthropologist from the University of Arizona’s Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. Students worked in Anna Deavere Smith’s style of docu-drama theatre, where writer performers take on the personas of the people they interviewed. One of the goals of the class, taught by Milta Ortiz, is as Anna Deavere Smith says, “to take that broad leap into the other.” By taking on someone’s words and becoming them, we learn much about the other and ourselves, and in this case, uncover lost history.


Special Borderlands Updates

BORDERLANDS THEATRE COMPANY REPLACES FOUNDING PRODUCER-DIRECTOR

Marc Pinate has been selected by the Borderlands Theater Company Board of Directors to succeed founder, Barclay Goldsmith, as the company’s new Producing Director. Pinate has been working at Borderlands for the past year as an artist in residence. Before officially beginning his new post on November 15, Pinate will be working with Goldsmith during his transition to retirement after 29 years leading the company to prominence. Read more…

BORDERLANDS THEATER WINS PRESTIGIOUS $50,000.00 GRANT TO LAUNCH “BARRIO STORIES PROJECT”

Borderlands Theater has been chosen to participate in the A-ha! Program: Think It, Do It, funded by the MetLife Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the professional not-for-profit American theatre. Led by new Producing Director,Marc David Pinate,the Barrio Stories Project will utilize cross-sector partnerships to collect oral histories from the residents of Tucson’s historic barrios. These narratives will be theatricalized and performed in sight-specific locations. The first iteration of the initiative will focus on Barrio Libre, Tucson’s original Mexican-American enclave that was demolished with the construction of the Tucson Convention Center. Pinate hopes to enlist the cooperation of the city and perform the work on the grounds of the Tucson Convention Center with promenade style staging. The play will open in March, 2016 as part of Borderlands’ 30th anniversary season. Read more…