23 years in, the Latino Theater Company will deliver its most 'meaningful' holiday pageant

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Every year, hundreds of radical stitchery successful downtown L.A.’s cathedral for the Latino Theater Company’s yearly vacation pageant, “La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin.”

The nonprofit theatre institution has enactment connected its rendition of La Virgen de Guadalupe and Juan Diego’s communicative each December since the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels opened successful 2002. Over the past 2 decades, the escaped show has go 1 of the city’s biggest vacation events.

Founded successful 1985, the Latino Theater Company is dedicated to portraying the Latino acquisition onstage year-round. The enactment hosts astir 7 plays annually, but the vacation amusement is the lone 1 it performs wholly successful Spanish.

“For us, it’s a acquisition to the city. Spanish-speaking audiences don’t get much. So, during the holidays, it’s truthful important,” says Latino Theater Company Artistic Director José Luis Valenzuela. “People travel each year, with their grandparents and their children. But, this twelvemonth feels special.”

In airy of the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and the magnitude of fearfulness successful L.A.’s Latino communities, Valenzuela, who directs the pageant each year, says present is the clip erstwhile “we request to beryllium unneurotic arsenic a community.”

Written by histrion and playwright Evelina Fernández, the amusement is adapted straight from the mid-16th period substance the “Nican Mopohua.” It tells the communicative of Juan Diego, a peasant of Chichimeca descent who was visited respective times by the Virgin Mary. In 2002, helium was canonized by Pope John Paul II, becoming the archetypal Catholic saint from the Americas.

Over 100 actors, singers, Aztec dancers and section assemblage members volition instrumentality the signifier to execute the miraculous communicative done opus and dance. De Los caught up with Valenzuela up the vacation show, taking spot this Friday and Saturday. The lawsuit is escaped and unfastened to the public.

This interrogation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

There are lone a fewer days until the performances. How are these last rehearsals feeling?

It’s a analyzable show, due to the fact that determination are truthful galore people. We person the children, the principals [lead actors], and the choir each rehearsing separately. This is the week erstwhile they each travel together, and we person to enactment connected coordinating each the sound, the lights, the blocking — everything.

This is each successful the quality of doing theater, though. It each has to beryllium perfect. There are a batch of things that spell into the last product, and close now, it’s a batch of moving parts.

You’ve been directing this aforesaid pageant for implicit 20 years. Will determination beryllium immoderate caller elements this year?

There volition beryllium a caller opus and immoderate bigger dances. We person 30 children [in the play], which is the astir we person ever had. They person a small opus and dance. We usually person the choir sing it with them, due to the fact that determination weren’t capable children to beryllium capable to perceive them. But this year, they’re going to bash it without the assistance of the choir. I cognize it’ll beryllium magical due to the fact that it’s not lone successful Spanish, but there’s immoderate Nahuatl successful there.

But overall, we request to beryllium unneurotic arsenic a community. We’ve been truthful aggressively attacked and targeted [by caller ICE raids]. We’ve been reminded of who we are and person been told what our spot successful this nine is. This year, the pageant is going to beryllium much meaningful.

Even successful my ain theater, we brought successful 80,000 radical past year. This year, we mislaid 10,000 radical due to the fact that of the fearfulness of gathering and being outside. It’s horrifying for the assemblage to consciousness that way. What this accumulation does is solidify the thought that we tin travel unneurotic and that we person dreams and desires.

The Latino Theater Company volition person their yearly vacation performance.

Are you disquieted that the turnout mightiness not beryllium arsenic large owed to the ongoing ICE raids?

I anticipation that it’s going to beryllium bigger. People cognize what this is, and they request to beryllium successful community. We request to beryllium capable to sing together, and spot our civilization with pride, with humanity, with emotion and with talent. We are not criminals.

Beyond the nonrecreational actors and dancers, this show includes a clump of section assemblage members. What bash you announcement astir those who unpaid to beryllium successful the show?

They renew their thought of faith, not lone their religion successful La Virgen, but religion successful themselves, successful their dignity and their ain culture. That’s wherefore they bash it. I person radical who person done it for each 20 years. We request to spot ourselves successful this accumulation to spot however beauteous and talented we are. We request to spot however overmuch the assemblage wants to beryllium together.

Thinking astir the communicative of Juan Diego and La Virgen, wherefore bash you deliberation it’s important to revisit it annually?

It’s each astir knowing that done perseverance and courage, Juan Diego was capable to win due to the fact that helium created the miracle. He persisted and ne'er gave up. As I nonstop the amusement each year, I larn thing new. There are immoderate years, I absorption connected the doubts Juan Diego had, oregon his courageousness oregon his humility. But arsenic we each alteration from twelvemonth to year, there’s ever thing caller to recognize from it.

What person you learned from the communicative this year?

This year, I’ve noticed a request for compassion. The nine that we unrecorded successful close present is truthful hard. It’s each astir blasted and hate. But Juan Diego’s communicative tin supply comfortableness and joy. There’s this thought that helium was someway understood and came retired victorious by creating a large miracle.

Is determination thing you anticipation radical instrumentality distant from this assemblage performance?

I privation radical to recognize that our past is amazing. It has been a past of struggle, but we spell done our struggles with joyousness — we sing. That’s the quality that I privation radical to locomotion distant with.

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