Photo Flash: Borderlands Theater Presents SANCTUARY
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 16, 2018
Continuing their signature new plays based on pivotal historical moments in our region, Borderlands Theater presents a timely new drama exploring the origins of the sanctuary movement. Written by Milta Ortiz, who penned 2015's award winning Más, about the banning of ethnic studies classes in T.U.S.D., Sanctuary is based on the people and events leading up to the 1980's Sanctuary movement that ignited in Tucson when concerned citizens took a radical moral stand in support of people fleeing unimaginable violence.
As civil war erupted in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, many poured into the United Status seeking refuge. But the Reagan administration had other interests. Humanitarians stepped in and stood up for humanity. Some thirty years later a similar plight arises. There is a direct connection from the older refugee crisis to the current one. A complex issue, Sanctuary kicks off a trilogy of plays dealing with immigrants seeking refuge in the U.S., exploring the U.S. involvement in Central America, its consequences, and response.
THE PLAY
In 1981, when Carol and Mica find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After they meet Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford, who is first to meet Nidia, another Salvadoran with strong but different opinions on the Salvadoran civil war.
Carol and Mica enlist pastor Jeff Chord of Southside Presbyterian Church, who sits on the National Presbyterian Council and before long Quaker Will Hewitt joins the group with ideas of his own. As the number of detained Salvadorans and Guatemalans continues to grow, the group must choose whether or not to stand up for what they believe. Will they choose the law of man or the law of God?
A UNIQUE PROCESS
Playwright Milta Ortiz conducted a year of research. Fortunate to have most of the originators of the movement still living in Tucson, she interviewed some of Tucson's most respected leaders as source material. Names have been changed and some characters are fictional composites. Most sources credit a couple of men with beginning the movement and while they were central to the movement, the interviews tell the story of two women who organized everyone.
Under director Marc David Pinate's vision the play will be produced at the Southside Tucson church where the movement is credited to have started. The adobe and wood Kiva, already a beautiful and aesthetically charged space, will be theatricalized into multiple stages with professional light and sound systems installed. "Decades of humanitarian aid and sheer, heartfelt compassion has been expressed within these walls," said Pinate regarding Southside Presbyterian Church as the site of the production, "we're going to conjure up all that powerful energy and infuse it into the production."
PANEL DISCUSSIONS LIVESTREAMED NATIONALLY THROUGH HOWLROUND.COM
In an effort to make discussions with immigration specialists accessible, they will be livestreamed through Howlround, a knowledge commons by and for the theater community.
September 9th: Originators of the 1980's Sanctuary Movement
Panelists: Margo Cowan, Lupe Castillo, John Fife and Father Ricardo Elford
Moderated by playwright Milta Ortiz
September 13th - Southside Presbyterian Church Today
Panelists: Pastor Alison Harrington and Day Laborer Program representative
Moderated by T.B.D.
September 16th - Immigration Awareness: What Tucson Groups Are Doing to Help in the Immigrant Crisis
Panelists: Catherine Gaffyney of No More Deaths, representative of Samaritans, and 2 more organizations T.B.D.
Moderated by Anna O'Leary Ph.D. Department Head/ Mexican American Studies, University of Arizona
September 20th - Globalization and Immigration, and Advocacy
Panelists: Isabel Garcia (immigration lawyer/Derechos Humanos,) Consul General German Alvarez (Salvadoran Consulate,) and Zaira Livier (Peoples' Defense Initiative and Free the Children Coalition)
Moderated by Elizabeth Oglesby Ph.D. Associate Professor of Geography and Development, and Center for Latin American Studies, University of Arizona
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 1980 the Salvadoran government had imposed martial law on its citizens, which in effect marked the beginning of mass killings. Human rights sources estimate that 18,000 to 20,000 people were killed or "disappeared" in 1980 alone. Thousands of Salvadorans fled the violence, coming north through Mexico to the United States. In the fall of 1981, the killing expanded to Guatemala, which led to a similar exodus.
The Sanctuary movement was a religious and political campaign in the United States that began in the early 1980s to provide safe-haven for Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict. The movement was a response to federal immigration policies that made obtaining asylum difficult for Central Americans.
In the last months of the Carter administration in 1980, the U.S. Congress passed the Refugee Act, a humanitarian law intended to expand eligibility for political asylum in the United States. The Refugee Act brought U.S. law into line with international human rights standards, specifically the 1951 UN Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. The United States had ratified the Protocol in 1968, thus becoming bound by the Convention's provisions. While the previous law recognized only refugees from Communism, the Refugee Act was modeled on the convention's non-ideological standard of a "well-founded fear of persecution."
The coincidence of the Central American exodus with the passage of the Refugee Act set the stage for a decade-long controversy that ultimately involved thousands of Americans. The protagonists in the controversy included, on one side, immigrants' rights lawyers, liberal members of Congress, religious activists, and the refugees themselves. On the other side were President Reagan and his administration, the State Department, the Department of Justice (including the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), and conservative members of Congress. The first group invoked international human rights and humanitarian and religious principles, while the Reagan administration's arguments centered on national security and the global fight against Communism.
MORE ON THE PLAYWRIGHT
Milta Ortiz- Playwright- Milta Ortiz is a playwright from the Bay Area, who now calls Tucson home. She's excited to work with Milagro Theater on the play Judge Torres, and with StoryWorks and Arizona Daily Star on a play about the Arizona Foster Care system. She received NEA and NALAC grants to develop/produce her play, Sanctuary (September 2018). She wrote/directed Solving for X for the Working Classroom (2016-17.) Her play, Más was produced at Su Teatro (March 2017,) and co-produced by Laney College (March, 2016) and Ubuntu Theater Project (May 2016.) Más premiered at Borderlands Theater (September 2015) and was nominated for a Steinberg-ATCA Award, toured Arizona Universities in 2016/17 and will be produced at San Diego State University (October 2018.) Milta teaches theater at Pima Community College. She earned an M.F.A. from Northwestern University's Writing for the Screen and Stage program, and a Creative Writing B.A. from San Francisco State University. She is a proud mom to a precocious Kindergartener.
MORE ON THE DIRECTOR:
Marc David Pinate- Director- Marc David Pinate is a theatre maker and producer who has worked with noteworthy theatre companies around the country. His passion is in the field of civic practice and creating sacred moments of theatrical beauty. Marc was the founder and director of the Hybrid Performance Experiment in Berkeley, CA known for their site-specific theatre performances on trains and mall food courts. Since arriving in Tucson in 2013, he has concentrated on theatricalizing local narratives (Más, Barrio Stories, Sonoran Shadows) in non-traditional settings while collaborating with an array of institutional partners, artists, and community members. He is the Producing Artistic Director of Borderlands Theater and an adjunct instructor at Pima Community College.
Southside Presbyterian Church, 317 W 23rd St, Tucson, AZ 85713. Tickets: $13-$30 with various discounts.
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