The LBCC auditorium was filled with bright eyed students rehearsing on Friday for their upcoming debut of De Donde, a play based on the hardships faced by a community of Latinx immigrants coming to the United States.
Cast members and future attendees may deal with uneasiness when it comes to the topic of the treatment of undomumented Latinx immigrants, especially since many LBCC students are of Latinx decent, have family who are undocumented, or are undomunted themselves.
Within the play are fighting scenes and even slurs that are included in the dialogue to show the treatment and harsh reality faced by undocumented Latinx immigrants.
Stage manager Madilyn Lopez explains the process of getting through specific scenes that may bring difficulty for some audience members to watch or for actors to have to experience.
“We have an intimacy director because we do have fight scenes, there are scenes where slurs are said and there is mistreatment of Hispanic people so we make sure there is constant communication of what the actors are comfortable with and if there is anything we need to address or if there is anything the actors are not comfortable with,” said Lopez who continued, “The safety and the emotional safety of the actor is first and foremost.”
After years of trying to get the show back on its feet from being canceled due to COVID-19, the play is set to run from Oct. 6-9, with only one month of rehearsing.
Students have spent several hours every day running lines, choreography, and taking constant notes and critiques from director Tony Carreiro who is the current Performing Arts department head and had been a part of a different production De Donde in his time as an actor.
“Working with Tony has been amazing, he is so passionate about what he does. You can really see his passion shine through to the play, especially in Act 2, when everything kind of goes haywire,” said actress Tijera Giddens-Byers, who plays Extrana, a refugee who faces mistreatment from the U.S. government.
While giving notes to the actors, Carreiro emphasized how he wanted the actors to portray their roles.
“The more intense the character, the more in control the actor,” said Carreiro.
With today’s political climate regarding undomuented immigration into the United States, the cast is aware of how the play may be viewed by people who have different views on the matter.
“It’s so relevant to our current time period with the issues of immigration laws and the mistreatment we have faced and even more so when Donald Trump became President,” said Byers.