TuYo Theatre in San Diego, CA Highlights Latine Voices with “Pasale Pasale”
”Pasale Pasale”
On a warm Sunday afternoon in National City, a small city of San Diego, CA, a local theater group performed the final act of "Pasale Pasale," a play crafted by Mario Vega and Eliza Vedar. The story tells about the lives of Mexican street vendors struggling with rising vendor fees, resonating with universal themes of hardship, resilience, and the choice between enduring exploitation or uniting to confront authority, risking livelihoods and deportation.
“Pasale Pasale” encourages audience interaction, selling items from the boutique and $1 raspados, all with printed money given during check in. The performance featured frequent transitions between standing and sitting, prompting a cheeky line from one character: 'It's like church in here, lots of standing and sitting,' drawing a playful comparison to Catholic church customs.
“There were so many themes, deportation hit close to home.”
“I loved seeing representation.
Colonized cousins
The challenges faced by the people in "Pasale Pasale" reflect the larger-scale discrimination and systemic challenges experienced by San Diego's Mexican and Indigenous communities and highlighted the colonized cousins found in Filipino culture. All three groups endure deep rooted inequities having been planted long ago through colonization.
The challenges faced by the people mirror the larger scale of discrimination and systemic challenges felt by the Mexican and Indigenous people of San Diego. The play ties past monumental events when people united together and fought for their rights and persevered.
TuYo Theatre
It was the lack of Latine representation in the arts that motivated the start TuYo Theatre and after plenty of conversations, the CoFounders pledged to create and produce plays that tell stories from and by Latine. The company continues to keep its promise and elevate the stories of the community showcasing sixteen productions. This includes a San Diego and Tijuana Playwright exchange where TuYo Theatre in partnership with Universidad Autonoma de Baja California and the Lark Play Development Center translated playwrights with the goal to create a deeper understanding between both communities.
