JUST LIKE US to Open Latino Theater Company 40th Anniversary Season

Latino Theater Company will open its 40th Anniversary Season with the professional West Coast premiere of Just Like Us, a non-fiction play by Karen Zacarías, inspired by a bestselling book by Helen Thorpe. Directed by Fidel Gomez (Tacos La Brooklyn), Just Like Us opens April 19 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles. Performances continue through May 18, with six low-priced previews taking place April 10 through April 18.

This true coming-of-age story about four Latina girls is more timely now than ever, posing difficult, yet essential questions about what makes us American. Reporter Helen Thorpe (Elyse Mirto) follows the lives of four Latina girls in Denver who straddle two worlds: Clara (Noelle Franco) and Elissa (Valerie Vega) hold legal documents, while Yadira (Newt Arlandiz) and Marisela (Blanca Isabella) do not. Against the odds, each finds her way into a good college, but the hurdles only mount from there. Student loans are not an option when you don’t have a Social Security number, and if your parents face deportation, your siblings may be moving into your dorm.

”I like to play with archetypes and assumptions,” Zacarías said in an interview. “The girls are all straight-A students and leaders in their high school, but the two girls who have documents have opportunities that the two undocumented women don’t. I am a Mexican immigrant. I was a straight-A student. I understand these girls on a visceral level.”

“I was not looking to change people’s political opinions,” explained Thorpe. “I want to change people’s emotional relationship to the individuals at the heart of the discussion. I want readers to relate to people caught up in the middle of the issue as fellow human beings, to walk around in their shoes. Then, they can draw whatever conclusions they want about ‘they should be here, they shouldn’t be here, they should have gotten this or that document, they should have done it this way.’ All of those opinions are legitimate, but if you can’t relate to the people caught up in the whole debate, it’s a shallow conversation.”

The Latino Theater Company cast also includes Brenda Banda, Oscar Emmanuel Fabela, Saul Rodriguez amd Sari Sanchez. The creative team includes scenic designer François-Pierre Couture; lighting designer Xinyuan Li; composer and sound designer Robert J. Revell; projection designer Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh; Costume Designer Maria Catarina Copelli; and choreographer Urbanie Lucero. Casting is by Espi Revell. The production stage manager is Alexa Wolfe, assisted by Martha Espinoza.

Zacarías is the most produced Latina playwright in the United States. Her award-winning plays include The Copper Children, Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, the adaptations of Just Like Us, Into The Beautiful North, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. She is the author of ten renowned TYA musicals and the librettist of several ballets. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage, a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons, and a founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater. She was voted 2018 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine for her advocacy work in the arts.

According to the Boston Globe, “Karen Zacarías’s plays start with the simplest situations but build in layers of complexity and a lot of laughter for surprisingly memorable drama.”

As it enters its 40th year in 2025, Latino Theater Company was named to the Los Angeles Times “Best of Latino L.A.” list, and artistic director José Luis Valenzuela has been named the 2024 recipient of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Gordon Davidson Award for lifetime achievement and distinguished service in the national not-for-profit theater. The Latino Theater Company is dedicated to providing a world-class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; and a place where the convergence of people, cultures and ideas contribute to the future. The company has operated The Los Angeles Theatre Center since 2006, producing hundreds of plays, creating over 4000 jobs and helping hundreds of nonprofit organizations by providing space and resources. The City, recognizing the Latino Theater Company for its “effective first-class theater center operations,” recently extended the company’s initial 20-year lease for an additional 30 years, through 2056.

Just Like Us opens on Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through May 18. Six preview performances take place April 10 through April 18 on the same schedule. Tickets range from $10–$48, except opening night which is $75 and includes a post-performance reception.

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