‘Mariachi Quixote’
puts quest in Boyle Heights
Readers theater updates classic—in Spanish—at Cal State
L.A. June 1
Los Angeles, CA
– Don Quixote’s classic quest gets a 21st-century makeover Monday,
June 1, when Cal State L.A. presents a stage reading of “Mariachi
Quixote”
(or “La
Sanchi Learns to Play the Guitarrón”)
at 7 p.m. in the University’s State Playhouse. Admission
is free.
Presented in
Spanish, the production features 32 actor/readers and Cal State L.A.’s
new Golden Eagle Mariachi Band – or Mariachi Aguila de Oro.
Inspired by
Miguel de Cervantes’ tale of Don Quixote penned four centuries ago, Cal
State L.A. Theatre Arts Professor José Cruz González rewrote the story,
placing it in a backyard in the east Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle
Heights.
González
co-directs the production with Professor of Modern Languages Gastón
Alzate, who translated the script. The play was a 2000 regional finalist
in the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival. Cindy Flores
is the musical director.
According to
González, “In the story, everybody in the neighborhood thinks that Don
Quezada is crazy because he believes he’s a mariachi. Trouble soon
follows when Don Quezada’s
next door neighbor, Sanchi, a 16-year-old girl starts to believe him.”
The two-act
musical comedy is appropriate for all ages.
# # #
Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 205,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12.
Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu
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