Josefina López is shining the light on a part of American history most people don’t know about—the lynching of hundreds to thousands of Mexicans in the Texas borderlands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Her latest play, Eléctrico, set in 1910 near the U.S.-Mexico border, follows a white-passing electrician tasked with restoring power to a town rocked with racial tensions. The violence, which was especially intense during the 1910s, is known by some as La Matanza, or “The Massacre.” The searing drama is playing at Casa 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights through Sunday, Nov. 2. (For details see below.)
“As a Mexican-American playwright and screenwriter I feel I have a responsibility to tell the stories of my people, which might not otherwise be told, or worse yet, forgotten or overlooked by history,” says López. After reading the book, The Forgotten Dead by William D. Carrigan and Clive Webb about the lynching of Mexicans in the southwest, I was compelled to write this play. My goal is to unearth the truth about a part of U.S. history that has been buried and forgotten along with all the dead who are part of this ‘American’ story. I needed to write this play to begin this uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had and understood.”
“Although the characters and plotline of the play are fictional, the subject matter on which Josefina’s play is based on is 100 percent true. It actually happened in Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s,” says Corky Dominguez, the play’s director.
Following are excerpts from my interview with López about creating and bringing Eléctrico to the stage.
Can you comment on the plot?
It’s the story of Raymond Brown (Robert Moris Castillo), set a few months before the Mexican Revolution began in a small town in Texas, 62 years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, close to the Mexican border. Brown, the titular character, is caught in a racial struggle between the whites and the Mexicans when he discovers the real reason why the electricity went out. Despite Mexicans being legally considered “white” under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
He meets a widow Adela Borrega (Corina Calderon) at the train station who begs for help in retrieving the body of her husband, even though the local sheriff wants it to stay hanging. As a widower himself he feels her torment. In this world of racial struggles and tension two people connect through pain and suffering.
We discover he has a secret and a death wish, but it becomes a kind of love story of two people who are heartbroken who come together to fight injustice.
What were your thoughts on writing this play?
As I was creating this story, I asked myself what would compel someone to confront lynching? Would they take a body down? I’ve tried to humanize this part of history by presenting this electrician. He’s obligated to the electric company, but will he exercise moral authority and compassion?
I was also driven by the fact that we’re not the invaders or the bad guys in white men’s stories. I feel cheated that we didn’t learn about this tragic history in high school or college. Now it’s my responsibility to tell this story.
I had people telling me I was wrong about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans being lynched. We’ve been led to believe that we’re the stupid people in white men’s stories. There’s been a conscious effort to keep us from knowing our stories and how courageous and amazing we are.
You call Eléctrico an Historic Feminist Western Drama. Can you explain that?
In a typical Western the men screw up and get redemption. In this one the women are declaring themselves. They realize no hero is coming and they have to fight for justice if no man is going to do it.
What kind of research did you do?
In addition to The Forgotten Dead, I was moved by 500 Anos Del Pueblo Chicano / 500 Years of Chicano History: In Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez. It has pictures where up to seven men were hung at the same time.
I went to the South Texas International Film Festival for a screening of 20 Pounds to Happiness (a companion piece to her Real Women Have Curves) in Edinburg, Texas. The city is also home to the Museum of South Texas History. It addresses the region’s complex history, and the area was a central location for the violence during the La Matanza (1910-1920). They have a monument to those who died. And it was incredible to see an exhibit with a hangman’s noose and hundreds of hanging logs representing the bodies of Mexicans who haven’t been acknowledged. That visit gave me a lot of ideas and detail for the play.
I was on a comedy panel about what you can make fun of, and sat next to Dr. Stewart Davenport, a professor of history at Pepperdine. I told him I have this play treatment and don’t know all the history. He said he’d love to read it, and he gave his observations. We talked and he approved. (The two took part in a Talk Back Session after the Oct. 12 performance about the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty, signed on Feb. 2, 1848, formally ended the Mexican-American War, resulting in Mexico ceding over half its territory, or about 525,000 square miles, to the U.S.)
You and Corky Dominguez are proud of the production values in this show.
Says Dominguez: It is my hope that our production of Eléctrico will totally immerse our audience members viscerally, aurally and visually into the storyline playing out on the stage. (For performance footage of the show: https://www.youtube.com/
Lopez: We’re using a lot of effects and video and projections, designed by Anthony Storniolo, to tell the story. There’s a lot of mythology and magical realism, like an indigenous dance that looks like ghosts, and supernatural elements that come together with lighting designed by Alejandro Parr and sound by Angelica Ornela. There’s an amazing sequence that uses thunder and lethal lightning.
The set is by César Rentana-Holguín with costumes by Patricia (Mama J) Trip.
This play has a lot of music.
I wrote a song for the end of the show, and Corky, who I’ve worked with on 10 plays, said we needed a corrido, a traditional Mexican narrative ballad, at the beginning the story. So we have a narrator who adds his perspective, and comments on scene changes. Francisco Rivas Medina was in our play Frida-Stroke of Passion. I’m thrilled he’s playing his original music and a character in this show.
Medina will take part in a Talk Back Session at the 3 p.m. matinee performance on Sunday, Oct. 26 for ticket buyers. The Q&A will be moderated by Dominguez with panelists Claudia Rodriguez, a Chicano/a studies professor at East L.A. College and Martha Gonzalez, the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and percussionist of the Chicano rock band, Quetzal.
Is this play your response to the current racial tensions and anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S.?
Yes, absolutely. We’ve been called rapists and thieves since the beginning of time. I wrote this play almost two years ago before all the ICE raids started happening. So this production is almost perfect timing. With the Texas Rangers at that time then and ICE now, you can make the correlation that it’s the same thing. Back then they would just lynch you instead of putting you in a camp. We are U.S. citizens and why are we being harassed and not having our rights respected? It’s the same story.
Eléctrico will be presented at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays through Nov. 2 in the Gloria Molina Auditorium at CASA 0101 Theater, 2102 East First St., L.A. Tickets are $25 general admission; $22 for students and seniors 60-plus. And $20 for Boyle Heights residents and groups of 10 of more. For tickets call box office, 323-263-7684, e-mail tickets@casa0101.org or buy online at www.casa0101.org
Steve Simmons is an accomplished writer and editor who writes about a wide array of topics including entertainment. His successful experience at The Beverly Hills Courier and other publications set the stage for his blog. Contact Steve at steve.simmons0211@gmail.com or 626-788-6734.
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