Radio QGLLU - Sal Lopez and Latino Theater: "Presente" 2024 Encuentro

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Experience the vibrant world of Latino theater as we sit down with the distinguished Sal Lopez, a founding member of the Latino Theater Company. Sal offers us a front-row seat to the upcoming 2024 Encuentro named Presente, revealing an exciting lineup of 19 days packed with 119 performances at the Los Angeles Theater Center. Imagine being part of an audience immersed in complete darkness with "Odd Man Out," or witnessing the unique visual storytelling of "A Girl Grows Wings," a compelling DACA story told entirely without dialogue. These innovative performances are just a taste of the trailblazing creativity that awaits theater enthusiasts and curious minds alike.

We chat about the diverse tapestry of Latino theater companies making their mark from Puerto Rico, Arizona, New York, Colorado, and Mexico, showcasing their talents on a national stage. Sal also shares the incredible journey behind "Whittier Boulevard," a play penned by the company members themselves, which captures the essence of community storytelling. This episode promises an engaging exploration into the magic of live performance, offering listeners a chance to discover the groundbreaking artistry pushing the boundaries of what theater can be. Join us as we celebrate the stories, cultures, and voices that make Latino theater a vibrant cornerstone of the arts.

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Episode Transcript

Rita Gonzales (00:04):
Welcome to the Out Agenda.
Coming to you on archivekpfkorg, I'm Rita Gonzalez.
Well, we have another segmentof Radio Q Glue, and my co-host
today is Eduardo Archuleta.
We have a special treat for ustoday.
We're going to be talking toSal Lopez, who is a founding
member of the Latino TheaterCompany, and it's amazing how

(00:28):
much he's done in the theatercommunity.
It's so extensive his resumeand you saw him once, didn't you
?

Eduardo Archuleta (00:36):
I did.
I saw him years ago in what hedescribes as his first musical.
It was Wanted ExperienceOperators, and at that time he
was performing with theBilingual Foundation of the Arts
.
Yeah, I love that place.

Rita Gonzales (00:55):
Is it still there ?
I don't know.

Eduardo Archuleta (00:57):
That I don't know.

Rita Gonzales (00:58):
I'm going to have to find out, because that is a
great location and a greattheater.
It's an old jailhouse, isn't it?

Eduardo Archuleta (01:04):
It was?
I believe it was.

Rita Gonzales (01:06):
And that's the only way I want to go to a
jailhouse is to see a play.

Eduardo Archuleta (01:12):
Well, maybe not the only way, but I don't
want to be arrested, okay.

Rita Gonzales (01:17):
All right, but this one, it's fascinating, this
show.
It's just there's so many plays.
But I can go on and on, but whydon't we let cell tell it?

Sal Lopez (01:36):
we are here with, with saul lopez, who is, and
I'll let you say what you dowell, I'm an actor and I'm also
a founding member of the LatinoTheatre Company, and we are
hosting the 2024 Encuentro namedPresente, and so what we're
going to be doing is basically19 days of 119 performances in

(02:04):
six theaters in three weeks.

Eduardo Archuleta (02:08):
And this is going to all be around LA or in
LA proper.

Sal Lopez (02:12):
They will all be at the Los Angeles Theater Center,
514 South Spring Street indowntown LA, and we have six
theaters there.
We actually have five, butwe'll kind of create another
stage and that lobby will behumming with activity and
artists from all over thecountry.

(02:33):
We will have 19 companiesLatino companies from all over
the country Puerto Rico, arizona, new York, colorado, mexico,
arizona, new York, colorado, etc.
And so it's going to be very,very exciting, and some of the
things that we're going to bepresenting theater-wise are
going to be very innovative,very different.

(02:54):
There's one, for instance,that's called the Odd man Out.
That's an opening night.
We will be opening six playsthe Red Rose A Girl had Her Ex
Whittier Boulevard.
The Delicate Tears and Odd manOut.
And Odd man Out.
I only mention that becauseit's so unique and different.

(03:15):
It's an immersive experiencewhere the play you follow this
blind man, and so the play isall done in the dark.
So you, yeah, so you listen toeverything as as if you were
blind as well wow, that's aninteresting concept.

(03:37):
I like that yeah, there's otherstuff like that, like a girl
grows wings is a is acollaboration with we
commissioned 10 writers, andthis has nothing to do with
Encuentro but it does, becausethis particular play that we
commissioned is one of 10writers that we commissioned to

(03:58):
do plays, and three of thoseplays, or two of those plays,
have already gone up Ghost Waltzthat played in our last season,
and then Tacos La Brooklyn,which was in our last year,
premiered at the LATC.
And Girls Wings is acollaboration with Compañía

(04:19):
Secreta from Mexico and Marisela, who is the author, and this is
a piece that has no dialogue.
So it's a really fascinatingpiece and it has to do with a
DACA story.
It's fascinating, so they usepuppets, et cetera and

(04:39):
physicality.
It's amazing.
We hosted them last year yearand they did two pieces and so,
anyway, out of that grew thiscollaboration.
And then Whittier Boulevard,which is our company play, was
written by the four of us fiveof us actually and we premiered

(05:01):
that last year and we'rebringing it back for the
Encuentro.
Actually, it takes place in thefuture, 2042, which coincides
with the 100-year 1942 and theZoot Suit riots, the Zoot Suit
riots with the 100-year 1942 andthe Zoot Suit Riots, the Zoot
Suit Riots, but anyway, it takesplace in a dystopian future
where a lot of our rights havebeen taken away and it has to do

(05:25):
with ageism.

Rita Gonzales (05:26):
People who are 75 are then taken down Whittier
Boulevard and we don't knowwhere they're taken to, but
they're never seen from againand this is all a place, so
these are all plays all in thesame location, so you can go
from one play to another exactlyit's like the IMAX theaters,

(05:46):
where you know how they go todifferent theaters yes, yeah,
you're right, and it's reallyhard to it's a multiplex for
theater and it's a greatfacility.

Eduardo Archuleta (05:55):
I've been there before to numerous events
there and um, it's a greatfacility there on spring.

Sal Lopez (06:02):
Yeah, it's an amazing building.
It was a bank that wasconverted and, uh, back in 1984
I guess it was 83, 83, somethinglike that and then we also
renovated in the 90s when wetook it over, and then now we
have a lease from the city.
So we're continuing to blossomand to really thrive there.

(06:26):
When other companies have beenclosing, you know it's sad.
We are actually thriving and Ithink it's because we provide a
service to the community thatreflects the community.
And that is our goal.
That is our mission is tocreate theater that reflects the

(06:48):
color and experience of ourcity.

Eduardo Archuleta (06:51):
It's a great facility and if you make a night
of it, there are some goodplaces to grab a bite to
downtown oh absolutelyAbsolutely.

Sal Lopez (07:00):
There's many places around there to have dinner
before, in between plays, etcetera, and there's going to be
lots of things to attend to,including some devised works,
panels, et cetera, and includinga movie.

(07:20):
We're going to be presenting amovie that the Latino Theater
Company did and it took us 18years to complete.
It's called Mo and it's basedon one of the plays that we did,
called Dementia, looselyinspired by one of the members
of our company, and so we'regoing to be presenting that on
29th of october, but anyway, sowe will also be presenting that

(07:44):
and that will be free, and, uh,it's a beautiful building.
I think it's the largest lobby,uh, actually, on west of the
mississippi theater lobby andlobby.
If you've been there, you'veseen that stained glass ceiling
that we have, pretty amazing.
But yeah, it's an amazing placeand we're proud to be able to

(08:08):
operate it.

Rita Gonzales (08:10):
It's easy access too, because there's a parking
lot nearby, and then, also, ifyou want to take the metro, the
bus, there's other differentways to get there.
It's easily accessible that way.

Sal Lopez (08:23):
Yes, we have a huge parking lot right behind the
theater.
That is for us, for the theaterpatrons, and we validate.
It's not a full validation, butwe do validate partial parking.

Rita Gonzales (08:38):
So what time do the plays start?
I mean, they're going all daylong.

Sal Lopez (08:44):
Yes, there will be different times obviously, but
you can go to the website, theLATCorg.
You can get a schedule ofeverything that's going on, the
times etc.
And tickets.

Rita Gonzales (09:03):
I know this is a Latin theater group, but are
some of the plays bilingual?

Sal Lopez (09:09):
Actually, all of our plays most of the plays are
going to be in English, but allof them will have super titles.
So they'll have super titles inSpanish if they're in English,
but all of them will have supertitles.
So they'll have super titles inSpanish if they're in English,
and those that are in Spanishwill have super titles in
English.

Rita Gonzales (09:23):
So everyone will be able to understand what's
going on.

Sal Lopez (09:26):
Exactly.
I'm glad you mentioned that yes.

Rita Gonzales (09:29):
And how many days it's running again.

Sal Lopez (09:31):
I know you said it, but so it's running from the
24th is basically our openingnight to the 10th of november
that's a lot of plays.

Rita Gonzales (09:42):
That's so exciting.

Sal Lopez (09:43):
A lot of plays in a short amount of time, really
three weeks you can't see themall.

Rita Gonzales (09:47):
That's what's.

Sal Lopez (09:48):
That's the well you can't see them all, actually,
you can't really yeah, oh yeah Ithought there was some
overlapping of some of them uhwell, yeah, but you can see them
all because they're they'restructured in a way that they're
not all at the same.
I mean some, obviously, someoverlap, some are at the same
time, but you'll be able to seethem, yes, for sure so so can

(10:12):
you buy an all-day pass, or doyou have to pay for each play
individually?
You can buy an all-day pass andthere are several options.
You have a, you have a $380pass, a $190 pass, an $80 pass,
and so these are for like 19plays or six plays or two play

(10:34):
pass, and you can purchase thosealso online.
And if you need to talk tosomeone, you can always call the
Latino Theater Company at213-489-0994.

Eduardo Archuleta (10:48):
Can you repeat that number again please
213-489-0994.

Sal Lopez (10:49):
Okay, thank you Can you repeat that number again,
please 213-489-0994.

Rita Gonzales (10:56):
So all the information should be on the
website.
If there's any questions, yes,and if we're ordering tickets.

Sal Lopez (11:00):
Yes, and these are festival passes that we're
talking about.

Rita Gonzales (11:05):
And your big opening is on.

Sal Lopez (11:07):
Is on the 24th.

Rita Gonzales (11:08):
On October 24th.
Yeah, 24th.

Eduardo Archuleta (11:10):
Yeah, that's a thursday, correct, you know?

Rita Gonzales (11:13):
just uh plan, make an evening of it let me ask
you real quick how long haveyou been doing this?

Sal Lopez (11:19):
this is our third in guentro we did uh.
The first one was in 2014 andthen we did another one in I
believe it was 2017 or whateverit was.
It was a the world uh encuentro.
And then we did what COVID hitand we couldn't do it.
So we did one on zoom and uhonline and we presented plays

(11:43):
online, which was kind ofinteresting because we and you
know, it's obviously it'sdifferent the experience of
theater, but uh, that was thefirst version of Whittier
Boulevard that we did and uh,and it was really, really
fascinating, but also, um, youknow, people from all the parts
of the world could see it, eveneven and thank god, we've a lot

(12:07):
of our plays.
We recorded them, you know, foruh to to to have a file.
You know a record of them andwe were able to.
We, we put captions on thembecause the sound isn't ideal,
because if you just save themfor uh to have a file, to have a
file, to have a record of yourwork, but we were able to put

(12:33):
captions on them and help withthe sound and broadcast them,
and people from other parts ofthe world were able to see that.
But that was for anyway.
That was for when we had thepandemic.
So now it's wonderful to havethe audience back and have the
place buzzing like it should be,like it deserves to be.

(12:53):
You know, with all the theatersgoing and people coming in and
out, it's quite electric, youknow, because you have all of
these artists in the same place.
It's just really amazing.

Rita Gonzales (13:07):
Well, I'm going to do my best to get down there
and see some of those plays.

Eduardo Archuleta (13:11):
We want to encourage everyone to go online
see what's playing and supportthe theater group.

Rita Gonzales (13:19):
Yes, the Latino community is very important, our
history.

Sal Lopez (13:24):
Absolutely.

Rita Gonzales (13:24):
Right there on stage.

Sal Lopez (13:26):
And you'll have a great time.
You'll meet some amazing peopleand you know, it's about
telling our stories.
You know, after all, theater isthe most ancient form of
telling stories.
And our iPhones and ourstreaming and movies and all
that TV will come and go, buttheater will live on because

(13:48):
it's live and it's a symbioticrelationship between audience
and the performers.
It cannot exist alone.
You need both of those peopleto both of those things in order
for theater to function.
You need an audience and youneed the performers, and they
feed off of each other.
Together we share a story.

Rita Gonzales (14:10):
Well, thank you, sal, for joining us.
Looking forward to seeing youthere, likewise.

Sal Lopez (14:15):
Yes, look forward to it.
Thank you, eduardo.

Eduardo Archuleta (14:20):
Tio Eduardo, no problem, thank you.

Sal Lopez (14:23):
So long Bye-bye.

Rita Gonzales (14:24):
Once again, we've been speaking to Sal Lopez,
founding member of the LatinoTheater Company, and I hope
you're able to get a chance tosee it because there's going to
be so many wonderful plays andmany opportunities.
But we do want to hear from you.
Like us on our Facebook page oremail us at theoutagenda at
gmailcom.
I'm Rita Gonzalez and EduardoArchuleta.

(14:47):
Thanks for listening, and havea wonderful week, and remember
that being out is the first stepto being equal.
Now, stay tuned for this WayOut.