By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez
Red Bank may be the perfect location for a festival that celebrates Latinx culture while introducing new voices and works that raise questions about diversity, gentrification and immigration.
The Two River Theater is bringing the 9th annual Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras), an annual four-day festival featuring free readings of works by Latinx playwrights, conversations with the artists, live music, food, drink and more, to Red Bank Aug. 1-4.
(Latinx is the gender-neutral term sometimes used in lieu of Latino or Latina, referring to Latin American cultural or racial identity.)
When John Dias, Two River Theater’s artistic director, came on board in 2010, he got to know the community. “One of the most striking and interesting aspects of being here was to see this lively and active Latinx community.”
Through his experience in both the New York and national theater scene, Dias said he was aware of Latinx writers in the theater world. “Many were looking for homes and places that would develop a richer and more fuller Latinx canon for people telling those stories,” Dias said. “I was thinking both about artists and the potential audience.”
One of the first projects Dias created was Crossing Borders.
The name came about as a tribute to the people who have come to this country and “how all of us are crossing literal and figurative borders in the places we live,” said Dias.
Although Crossing Borders was originally planned as a one-time event, organizers realized they could build an audience around shared experiences. “One year was not enough,” Dias said. And the theater wanted to include the Hispanic community as well as non-Hispanic neighbors. Each year the theater’s team re-evaluates whether there is enough interest for another Crossing Borders. Last year more than 800 people turned out for the Crossing Borders’ readings, concerts and free community events.
Throughout the year the theater’s team looks for full-length plays, monologues, musicals and works for young people that speak to the diversity of the Latinx experience and reflect the current national conversation about Latinx identity.
“We try to be led by the artists themselves,” Dias said about choosing works. “In the theater sector, it’s the artists who are avant-garde and always looking ahead.”
Past themes have included what it’s like to be an American from Puerto Rico and living on the mainland and the relationship between Cuban-Americans and the U.S. New Jersey has the largest population of Cubans outside of Florida, Dias said.
Much has changed over the years. “The national conversation has changed around immigration and people crossing borders – literally and figuratively,” Dias said. “So, It’s important to have this conversation.”
“This year there is a lot of thinking about the different tensions involved with being here.”
Since Crossing Borders launched in 2011, three productions developed in the festival have gone on to mainstage productions at the theater, including the world premieres of Andrea Thome’s “Pinkolandia” and Matt Barbot’s “El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom,” both of which were directed by José Zayas, and the American premiere of Bárbara Colio’s “Ropes,” translated by Maria Alexandria Beech, directed by Lisa Rothe.
The four-day festival also includes lectures, food and musical performances. “Often the way to initiate people to come into a new space for a performance and hear stories is music as a key lure,” Dias said. “It goes to a universal language. It’s very accessible. From the beginning we wanted to use music that might attract someone who might not want to come to a play reading.”
Throughout the year the theater’s marketing and development department networks within the community to find musicians and eateries to participate in Crossing Borders.
This year’s “A Night of Music with Flaco Navaja & The Razor Blades” will feature the star of both HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and the Tony-winning Broadway tour of the same name, backed by the band with congas, timbales, keys and horns.
In addition, Brookdale Community College students who are taking ESL classes will share their personal stories in Voices of Hope readings.
According to director Zayas, curator of this year’s Crossing Borders, the project opens the door to a group of artists who may not have felt like they belonged in a place like Two River. “And Crossing Borders has found an audience hungry for these experiences and to hear their own stories.”
After reading about 30 playwrights, Puerto Rican-born and Harvard and Carnegie Mellon-educated Zayas said they chose plays that were diverse and exciting.
“‘Dream House’ tells the story of sisters trying to see what their place is in this country and in history and it’s done as a reality TV show,” he explained. “Living and Breathing” is a conversation about race, friendship and art when a man purchases a living sculpture and his friends react. “All the things explode as they deal with their own prejudices,” said Zayas.
“ ‘StoneHeart’ is a deconstructed feminist western that deals with the border and Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) with multiple timelines and about a family that’s collapsing,” said Zayas.
“All these are about moments of transformation and asking, Where do I fit in in this new world order?” Zayas said.
“They deal with politics, what’s happening in your life and hopefully make you think.”
“But none of these plays drop party lines,” Zayas said. “They’re analyzing both sides of the argument. It doesn’t try to alienate anyone.”
All readings and events are free. For the full schedule and to make reservations, visit tworivertheater.org.
