UPDATE, Sept. 16 2:40 P.M.: After a successful opening weekend with packed audiences, Slip of the Tongue has added a show and a performer to close out Breath of Fire's theater space in Santa Ana.
As doors open tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m., another one-woman play joins the fray. Cristina Nava, a Los Angeles based member of the 'Slip of the Tongue' Latina artistic collective, will be coming down to OC to stage Rocks in My Salsa, described as “somewhere between Chicana and Mexican” where “self discovery happens at the bottom of a dirty martini glass.”
The three solo performances originally helped to launch the Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble five years ago in 2006 so it's only fitting that they help bring the space on the corner of Fifth and Broadway to a close this weekend.
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ORIGINAL ITEM Sept. 8 3:06 P.M.: Santa Ana-based Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble is announcing,
with grateful hearts, that they are “going GYPSY!” The
company is leaving the humble theater space on the second floor of the
Knights of Pythias building where it has made its home for the past five
years. By month's end, Breath of Fire will take on a nomadic persona
and function artistically through alternative outlets.
“The space was once a white walled, mini-blind, two room office space – converted into black box with seating of up to 75,” the award-winning organization's press release recounts. “Within the four walls, the body of works covered issues like: homelessness, immigration, war, the undocumented, living with HIV, the under-told stories of local struggles and heroism, revolutions, segregation, queer cuentos (stories), unrequited love, and the classics.”
Situated on the corner of Fifth and Broadway, the company, under the artistic directorship of Sara Guerrero, staged many notable plays, hosted new playwright festivals and networked with the who's who of Latina theater bringing Cherrie Moraga, Monica Palacios and Real Women Have Curves' Josefina Lopez to OC. Breath of Fire, of which I served on the board for many years, will end its current 2011 season and run at its space with an event anchored by two of its founding members.
This Friday and Saturday, Sara Guerrero and Elizabeth Szekeresh are presenting their one-woman plays Calzones Cagados and When Song Leaders Go Bad respectively. The Slip of the Tongue solo performances will focus on exploring themes of sexuality, familia, culture, identity, among other topics using humor and drama as preferred forms of expression. The nights will also feature two short-film screenings as well.
With the decision to go without a space, the ensemble will add an encore next Saturday to close everything out. Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble maybe exiting the stage on Fifth and Broadway, but there's no 'lights down' as organization itself is continuing on.
Slip of the Tongue at Breath of Fire Latina Theater, 310 w. 5th St., Santa Ana, Fri., Sat., 8 p.m. and Sat., Sept. 17, 8 p.m. (Play is intended for mature audiences and may not be suitable for children. Adult language and content) $10.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!