Published on: May 21, 2020 at 11:54 AM
By Steve Simmons
Josefina López should be celebrating two big anniversaries.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the playwright/director/producer and more’s signature play Real Women Have Curves, and the 20th anniversary of Casa 0101, the theater company she founded in Boyle Heights.
López was in the midst of directing a new production of her seminal play at the San Francisco Playhouse, set to open March 17, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit. “They made the announcement about quarantining and the show was postponed and then eventually canceled,” recalls López.
Reflecting on the play’s longevity is “bittersweet,” says López. Her story of Ana–a recent high school graduate who dreams of being a writer but has to work in her sister’s tiny sewing factory in East L.A.—is still current.
López intentionally made the piece funny, covering serious issues. “Everyone wanted it to be a heartbreaking tragedy about immigration. I put the comedy in the forefront to get my message out, and still show the dignity of these women.”
“I’m sad these topics are still so relevant,” says López. In addition to “illegal aliens” (a term she hates) and the women talking about hiding from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the play tackles body issues (think the furor over Adele’s transformation), generational conflicts, sexual violence and the empowerment of women (think the #MeToo movement).
López started the play’s first draft when she was 18 and working in her sister’s sewing factory. In the play Ana learns to understand and appreciate the women and the work she initially despised. “The play is about how important it is for women to get their proper respect,” says López.
The play premiered on May 25, 1990 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco with Francine Torres as Ana and Jennifer Proctor as Estela, directed by Hector Correa. To get a production in L.A., where the play is set, López had to find her own theater.
“After 19 productions no one would produce Real Women Have Curves in L.A,” says López. “They didn’t consider it commercial or mainstream. I realized it would never get produced at the Mark Taper Forum because even though Latinos are the majority in L.A., they’re a minority in the theatre community.”
Not wanting her dream to die, she opened her theater to address injustice she still sees. She cites the Nexflix series Hollywood that seeks to rewrite and correct the film industry’s treatment of African Americans, gays and Asians during the Golden Age. “There were Latino and gay actors then too, but we’re still left out.”
“We’re still invisible,” says López. “And now, essential people are creating miracles through work and labor working in grocery stores, harvesting crops and making deliveries. I wanted a theater to give voice to invisible people and let the world see their humanity.”
She opened the original Casa 0101 in a former bridal shop as artistic director on April 1, 2000 at 2009 E. First St, L.A.; it was and used as a rehearsal space, until the lease was transferred to Teatro Luna in August 2018. After three years of planning, she open “Big Casa,” the new Casa 0101 Theater in a former boxing gym, across the street at 2102 E. First St. in Boyle Heights The inaugural performance of Real Women Have Curves that launched Casa 0101 featured Margie Gutierrez Lara as Ana, Miriam Peniche as Estela, Martica De Cardenas as Pancha, Noemi Gonzalez as Rosali and Jonee B. Shady as Carmen, directed by Corky Dominguez.
Now hers is one of many 99-seat theaters across L.A. facing life during and after a pandemic that separates and isolates actors and audiences. “We were pretty prolific with programming,” says López, “so on one hand, we needed a break,” as the company had cut its yearly productions from 12 to 10. She laments the cancellation of the company’s annual (and usually sold-out) festival of short plays, “Chicanas, Cholas y Chisme,” “that gives voice to Latina writers.”
“Everything has stopped,” says López, anxious to resume operations, especially acting classes for children with its mission “to nurture the future storytellers of Los Angeles who will someday transform the world.” “Theatre has the power to bring people together and build community and that’s our intention, to allow audiences to witness truth. There’s a powerful bond that happens and what’s happening now is the antithesis of theatre.”
Some of the adjustments she’s making are taking the company’s popular playwriting and screenwriting classes online and exploring a series of one-woman shows on Zoom. Last month the company hosted its annual Monologue Challenge on its Facebook page-https://es-la.facebook.com/CASA0101Theater/videos/casa-0101-theater-20th-anniversary-josefina-lopez-monologue-challenge/1295834230613095/
Since theater “can happen anywhere and any way,” López is thinking outside the box and looking at taking productions outside “to the streets or in bigger venues with better mics. We must just sell 30 seats and do one-person shows or plays with fewer actors.”
“We have to think creatively now,” says López. “the amazing thing about theatre is that it’s the one art form that’s been dying for 2,000 years. But the theatre and the need to tell stories never dies. It just takes two people; one telling the truth and one to witness it.”
López’s seminal play became the 2002 Sundance Film Festival Award-winning and Humanitas Prize-winning film, which she co-wrote with George LaVoo, starring the 17-year-old America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros and George Lopez.
An exhibit on the film’s creation, curated by director Patricia Cordoso, is slated to be among the inaugural exhibits when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences museum opens in December.
“I tell people I don’t mind being the token Latina,” says López. “The Academy has not always been kind to Latinos. I like being at the intersection of Latinos and working-class people and showing that the Academy is not all just a bunch of white guys.”
“The challenge is gathering material and Patricia is working on finding the stuff like stills, scripts, postcards and photos from more than 100 productions of the play,” says López. She’s hoping to find the red dress Estella make to fit Ana’s body. She shows it to Ana, but she’s never seen in the film wearing it. In a dual second ending of the film, Ana wears the dress.
Born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, López was 5 when she and her family migrated to the U.S. and settled in the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights. Giving back to her adopted hometown was another impetus to start her theater. “My parents didn’t have a background in the arts,” says López, “and I didn’t have access to music, galleries and arts programs. So I decided to bring them.”
To help support the arts in Boyle Heights, address the area’s looming gentrification and make “dinner and the theatre” an accessible and affordable experience on the East Side, López and Casa 0101 Executive Director Emmanuel Deleage opened Casa Fina Restaurant & Cantina on Cinco de Mayo, 2017.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant has launched its “Buy One, Give One” Food Program. For every $10 or more take out order, the restaurant donates one meal to Guadalupe Homeless Project at Proyecto Pastoral at Delores Mission in Boyle Heights.
At left, Emmanuel Deleage, served food at Guadalupe Homeless Project on April 8, 2020. Photo by Steve Moyer
The Project is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, serving three meals a day. To date, Casa Fina Restaurant & Cantina has delivered more than 700 meals, averaging 70 a week.
And, of course, the current situation has inspired a new play. López is working on Real Men Drink Water, her take on the story of Cain and Abel. Set in a funeral home at the start of the virus’s spread, the play evokes a time “when Corona beer sales went down and alcoholism was on the rise,” López reveals.
Time in Mexico recently, taking care of her mother who’d fallen off a ladder and broken her ribs and hands, also sparked the idea for another work. “She has Alzheimer’s and I had to tell her the same stories over and over,” recounts López. “I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, but I realized I could change the stories and confess anything I wanted because she wouldn’t remember. The idea of one woman confessing deep, dark secrets and the other listening would make a good story.”
“So many playwrights depend on us,” says López. “We will find a way to continue, be more flexible, and continue to tell our stories.”
