Crossing Borders festival celebrates Latino culture

Block party kicks off four days of readings, discussion, food & music

BY KRISTEN DALTON
Staff Writer

 A community block party on June 28 at the Two River Theater plaza in Red Bank was the kickoff for “Crossing Borders,” a festival celebrating Latino culture.  PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff A community block party on June 28 at the Two River Theater plaza in Red Bank was the kickoff for “Crossing Borders,” a festival celebrating Latino culture. PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Leaving family, friends and loved ones behind is a risk not everyone is willing to take. But it was at the heart of every artist’s creative storyline at the second annual Crossing Borders festival.

Writers, directors and actors from throughout Central America featured their original work at the festival, held at the Two River Theater Company (TRTC) from June 28 to July 1.

“This year we were reading a bunch of new work and discovered some common themes among a wide range of Latinos, all exploring some issues around immigration and emigration and what it means for a people or a family to leave behind a culture and make a new home in America,” said John Dias, artistic director at the TRTC, on June 27.

“It’s certainly, as an American story, an old one,” said Dias in an interview prior to the festival. “Dealing with this new homeland is something that most of us who are here now have had family who have done that in one way or another. Just within the Latino perspective, there are people coming from different cultures exploring that same idea and having some different perspectives on it.”

 Vidal Castro, of the Castro Brothers, performs at the block party, which featured Latino live music and food and the opportunity to meet with artists whose work was featured in “Crossing Borders.” Vidal Castro, of the Castro Brothers, performs at the block party, which featured Latino live music and food and the opportunity to meet with artists whose work was featured in “Crossing Borders.” Crossing the threshold into a new way of life while holding onto one’s cultural identity was a common theme among the creative works performed during the festival, whose purpose was to celebrate the Latino culture through creative stories and insightful performances.

“I felt like it would be great to invite some Latino artists to the theater, and by working with the artists on some new work, see if we could start to interest an audience in some of the issues going on in the Latino community that these playwrights are interested in exploring,” said Dias.

The four-day festival kicked off with an outdoor block party for the community that featured live music by the Dinastia Hnos Castro mariachi band, food donated by local restaurants, and an opportunity for people to interact with the artists. Many of those artists, Dias said, hail from Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico and Chile.

On opening night, writer and actor Carlo Alban performed “Intringulis,” an original play interwoven with folk songs about coming toAmerica on a tourist visa at age 7 with his parents and two brothers.

However, the family never left the country and instead concealed their status as undocumented immigrants, living with the fear and worry of being discovered and deported back to Ecuador.

Friday night featured a play by Andrea Thome, a Chilean-Costa Rican who was born in Wisconsin. “Pinkolandia” tells the tale of two sisters growing up in the mid-western state during the Reagan era as they try to make sense of their family’s exile from Chile.

“On Saturday afternoon, in between two plays, we’ll have a panel discussion with some artists from NewYork who think about what are some of the issues going on in the Latino arts community,” Dias said last week.

“So we’re hoping that’s a good and interesting conversation for people down here in Red Bank who are thinking about those kinds of things too.”

The first show on Saturday was “Enfrascada,” a play by Tanya Saracho that chronicles the story of a group of women and their friendship during a time of cultural reconciliation with their Latino heritage and American ideals.

The second show on Saturday took place during the 2008 American presidential election. In Christopher Oscar Pena’s “Icarus Burns,” the lives of six characters collide in a struggle to overcome the stories of their past while pursuing their personal ambitions.

According to Dias, about 475 people attended the festival last year, which featured Mexican- American artists. He estimated the same number would attend for the second year. The weekend of free events included a display of visual artwork by local Latino artists throughout the halls of the theater.

“It’s a lot like things we do throughout the year, especially in terms of really supporting and nurturing artists through the process of developing their work and getting their work in front of audiences,” said Dias.

“On the other side too, we’re inviting audiences in to become part of the artistic process with us, and to see themselves reflected on the stages here and see stories like theirs being told by actors. This one particularly, as a grouping of things, all focuses culturally around Latinos.”

Dias came to the TRTC about a year ago to work as the artistic director and has brought with him 20 years of experience working in theater in New York City.

“It really was my coming down here and seeing this lively Latino community. It’s nice to see a cultural institution, a theater like the Two River Theater Company, reaching out and saying we would love to have that community come in and feel part of what goes on in this theater,” he explained.

“Part of doing that is, of course, being able to see your culture represented in front of you. I’m not sure how much of that happens in the Red Bank area for Latinos, but I do know — because I saw it last year — there’s a hungry audience of people wanting to take part in those things.