1070 Dedicated to Slain Civil Rights Activist Heather Heyer

Arizona-based playwright and theater producer James E. Garcia has dedicated this weekend's performances of 1070 (We Were Strangers Once, Too) to the memory of Heather Heyer, the young civil rights activist killed in Charlottesville.

1070 is a new play by Garcia. It is presented by
New Carpa Theater Company and Sociedad Activa, and is performed at the Helen K. Mason Theater, 1333 E. Washington, St., Phoenix, AZ, Aug 18-27.

Garcia said his latest full-length drama tells the story of a "Dreamer", an undocumented immigrant, named Dulce Avila and her family after the 2010 passage of Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, widely regarded at the time as one of the most draconian, state-based anti-immigrant laws in the country.

In addition to memorializing Heyer, Garcia said that all "Dreamers", undocumented immigrants who are eligible or have received DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), are invited to attend the play for free during its final 7 performances.

"I'm dedicating this weekend's performances to Heather Heyer's memory and opening the show free to all 'Dreamers' because their fight is our fight. The story of people struggling to resist bigotry in Virginia and anywhere else is the same struggle that immigrants, people of color and so many others are facing in Trump's America. That point was punctuated by the president's remarks this week coddling white supremacists, one of whom killed Heyer, even as Trump signaled that he intends to pardon our ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio - a man convicted of openly defying a judge's order to stop racially profiling Latinos. Anyone who believes in civil rights, justice and basic human dignity needs to speak out now. I'm doing that in part as a playwright, but also as someone who plans to march against Trump when he comes to Phoenix to champion Arpaio Tuesday night. I can't tell other people how to fight hate and bigotry, but I do know, as someone once said, that 'silence is complicity'. I will not stay silent. I will not be complicit. As Heather Heyer's mother said, they killed her daughter to try to shut her up but instead magnified her voice. We'll do our best to magnify Heather's voice on stage this weekend and honor our common cause."

1070 stars Anna Flores, a student at Arizona State University, and a graduate of Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix. Flores began performing at Carl Hayden when she was 16. She also marched against 1070 as a student at Carl Hayden.

"I'm so grateful to be a part of this production," said Flores. "Not only because I think it's a great part and a great play, but because as Dulce Avila I find myself experiencing on stage many of the same things my own family and friends have gone through. The sad thing is that it seems to be happening all over again."

Garcia said, "The play explores the consequences the law had on one family, as well as our wider community, including what happened in political and economic circles. I think most people today agree that SB 1070 put Arizona on the map for all the wrong reasons, and we're still recovering from the black eye it left on our state's reputation. But I also truly believe that Arizona has made progress because good people fought back."

Garcia added that New Carpa will launch a crowdfunding campaign on Aug. 18 on Indiegogo.com to raise money to take the play to Texas, which is slated to implement its own version of SB 1070, known as Texas Senate Bill 4, on September 1.

"This is a story Texans needs to see. As horrible as 1070 was, this play ends on a hopeful note because it shows what courageous people can do in the face of hate and repression. I'm hoping Texas can learn something from the mistakes we've already made, and from the story of this family's decision to stay and fight," said Garcia.

Aug. 18-27, 2017, Friday and Saturday night performances at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday afternoon matinees each weekend, 2 p.m. Note that there will also be a performance on Thursday night, Aug. 24, 7:30 p.m. The show is two hours long.

Tickets are $20 general admission and $15 for students and seniors, plus 10 percent off for groups of 6 or more. "Dreamers" enter free.

To buy tickets: www.newcarpa.org or call 623-252-2772.

New Carpa Theater Company was founded in 2002. The nonprofit troupe presents new works by established and emerging Latino and multicultural artists. James E. Garcia is the founder and producing artistic director of New Carpa and the author of more than 30 plays. He has an MFA in Creative Writing/Playwriting from Arizona State University.

Garcia is a journalist, playwright and a Valley-based media and communications consultant. He is the director of communications and strategic public policy for the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the owner of Creative Vistas Media. As a journalist, he has worked as a reporter, columnist, foreign correspondent and television and radio commentator. He was the founding editor of Latino Perspectives Magazine in Phoenix; the first Latino Affairs correspondent for KJZZ, the Valley's National Public Radio affiliate; and the first Latino editor of major alternative news weekly in the U.S., the San Antonio Current. Garcia also has taught ethnic studies, Latino politics and creative and journalistic writing courses at Arizona State University. An accomplished playwright and theater producer, James is the founder and producing artistic director of New Carpa Theater Company, which stages Latino and multicultural works. He is an actor, director and author of more than 30 plays. His most recent works include Land of a Thousand Dances (about the 60s East L.A. rock band, Cannibal and the Headhunters), Mallecho (a modern adaptation of Hamlet by William Shakespeare set in Texas politics), and American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Raul H. Castro (Arizona's only Hispanic governor). His media and communications consulting clients have included Chispa Arizona, Mesa Public Schools, the Smithsonian Institution, One Arizona, Promise Arizona, Ohio Against Hate, the Arizona Opera, Gina's Team, the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, the family of former Arizona Gov. Raul H. Castro, and United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona. You can contact him via email, jgcvm1@gmail.com or phone, 623-252-2772.