‘1070’ Performances to be Dedicated to Slain Charlottesville Activist
Anna Flores as “Dulce Avila” in “1070 (We Were Strangers Once, Too)”
Arizona-based playwright and theater producer James Garcia will dedicate this weekend’s performances of “1070 (We Were Strangers Once, Too)” to the memory of Heather Heyer, the young civil rights activist killed in Charlottesville.
“1070” is a new play by James Garcia. It is being staged at the Helen K. Mason Theater, 1333 E. Washington, St., Phoenix, August 18-27. Garcia is the author of more than 30 plays, most of which address contemporary or historical social justice issues.
Garcia said his latest full-length drama tells the story of a “Dreamer”, an undocumented immigrant, named Dulce Avila and her family after the 2010 passage of Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070.
In addition to memorializing Heyer, Garcia said that all “Dreamers”, undocumented immigrants who are eligible or have received DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), are invited to attend the play for free during its final 7 performances.
“1070” stars Anna Flores, a student at Arizona State University, and a graduate of Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix. Flores began performing at Carl Hayden when she was 16. She also marched against 1070 as a student at Carl Hayden.
“I’m so grateful to be a part of this production,” said Flores. “Not only because I think it’s a great part and a great play, but because as Dulce Avila I find myself experiencing on stage many of the same things my own family and friends have gone through. The sad thing is that it seems to be happening all over again.”
Garcia said: “The play explores the consequences the law had on one family, as well as our wider community, including what happened in political and economic circles.”
Garcia added that New Carpa will launch a crowdfunding campaign on Aug. 18 on Indiegogo.com to raise money to take the play to Texas, which is slated to implement its own version of SB 1070, known as Texas Senate Bill 4, on September 1.
