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Troupe gets childish with 'Calabasas Street'

By Anne Owens
ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT

Wednesday September 26, 2001

Future drama teachers present kids' play this week

Actors do not usually consider childishness an asset their careers.

But for the adult company of an upcoming play about children growing up in a fictitious Tucson, childishness takes on a greater importance.

This year, the University of Arizona's Educational Theatre Company performs the little-known play "Calabasas Street" by Los Angeles playwright Josˇ Cruz Gonzalez.

Because the play is part of a class for future drama teachers, roles were added to the original script to allow for an expanded cast. A children's chorus was added; the main character's part split into two roles, and the protagonist got a larger family.

Assistant drama professor and faculty advisor Laura McCammon contacted Gonzalez via e-mail to get permission for the changes.

"He was very warm to the changes that we made," McCammon said. "It's invaluable to have that kind of insight from the playwright."



"Calabasas Street" will run at 7:30p.m tomorrow and Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Directing Studio, Room 116 in the Drama building. Tickets are $2 and can be purchased at the Fine Arts Box Office located in the lobby of the Marroney Theater.

The play's setting was also changed from Los Angeles to South Tucson.

"We wanted to bring locals something that would mean something to them," said theatre arts senior and play director Kim Burt. "The story was about a street in L.A., but when I read it, I was like 'this could have been my childhood here.' Tucson is an ideal location for the play. I think that people here will really respond."

The play's plot revolves around Domingo Sanchez, a Mexican-American college student, as he recalls events from the street where he grew up.

When Domingo was 8 years old, his baseball ended up in the overgrown yard of an old lady who local children believed to be a "bruja", a witch - a kind of Mexican boogiewoman.

Domingo's mother makes him apologize by bringing the woman a plate of tamales. Thinking he will be eaten alive, Domingo is surprised to find the woman makes beautiful pi–atas.

He also discovers the widow's husband was a mariner killed at sea, and since his death she has been unable to maintain their yard - a promise she made to her husband. Domingo helps out with the yard, alleviating one of the main sources of the old woman's creepiness. In turn, she learns to give her pi–atas away rather than hiding them.

"It's just a sweet, funny little play," McCammon said. "It's a nice thing to share with friends and family, especially if you have children."

Burt, who considered a number of Hispanic-based plays, chose "Calabasas Street" because it was funny - and because it was true.

"At one point the older Domingo says, 'I think that menudo is made to torture little Mexican kids,'" Burt said. "That's exactly how I felt when I was a kid. I think that that's something everyone will remember - those little things that tortured us in childhood. Even if nobody made them eat menudo."

One of the challenges of putting on a play about children is getting college students to act like convincing 8-year-olds.

"I was really lucky," said Burt, "I got a fantastic cast. Everyone put a lot into it, and they are able to portray children really well."

The cast prepared for their parts by playing a big game of hide-and-seek.

"I think that everyone still has that somewhere, that silliness we left behind when we were kids," Burt said. "It's a matter of remembering all of the things that we loved as children but have forgotten or have been told not to do."

Acting freshman Gabe Fonseca, who plays the young Domingo, gives most of the credit to the play's writer.

"Children don't think or speak in the same way that we do," Fonesca said. "The dialogue is very good about bringing children across naturally."

 
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