What does it mean to grow up? So many people, events and circumstances impact our life from childhood to adulthood, changing our perceptions about our world and our self. The people around us only see the results of our journey, the person we’ve become over time.  As Tía Roly says, “We never really know everything about a person’s life.”

     So it has been with Caridad Svich’s Guapa, which has grown and deepened thanks to the process supported by the National New Play Network’s Rolling World Premiere program and the tíos y tías (uncles and aunts) around the country who so carefully nurtured Guapa.

    Barclay Goldsmith, Artistic Director of Borderlands Theatre where the play launched in October, invited Caridad, her dramaturge Heather Helinsky, Artistic Director Bryan Fonseca (who would direct the second rolling world premiere at Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis) and me, to meet in Tucson with his production team.  We listened to Guapa and shared our visions. We started a conversation that continued through the fall and winter, as we visited Bryan and his team in Indianapolis. 

      It became clear that we all loved this complex, multifaceted, challenging play.  We were drawn to its socioeconomic messages, the honest representation of a modern American family stuck in a “dirty, old town”, doing their best against the odds. We embraced the story of Guapa’s ability to open her Tía Roly’s heart and make her believe in dreams again.  We were captivated by the family dynamics; the tension brought by Guapa and Hakim to the already strained relationships between Roly, Pepi and Lebón.  These dynamics mirror our national tension; as different languages, cultures, and values are brought to the table by the growing immigrant and minority populations. And of course, Guapa reminds us of the debt and respect we owe to the indigenous—whose lives, languages and culture have been displaced by the original wave of immigrants and their descendants ever since… 

     Guapa’s family has history, and we can never really know it all.  Not everything can be revealed; not everything can be heard and understood. Living lives filled with daily compromises, they  have little time and patience left.  Secrets that need to be told may go unheard. 

      I am so grateful for the conversations that have revealed Guapa; grateful for our family of actors, who hear and understand Caridad’s words with such fierce intelligence, talent and grace; to Alyssa, our designers, and all who’ve joined us on this journey; to Caridad who set us on this path.  And to Milagro as ever … Olé olé! —Olga Sanchez, Director