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This is an article by Sherilyn Forrester of Tucson Weekly, titled, "Borderlands’ Más takes us back to a time our community broke, but reminds us that theater can heal and bring us back together"
This play was written by Milta Ortiz, and underwritten by several agencies, including the National New Play Network and a Tucson Pima Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. Más is a true story created through numerous interviews conducted by Ortiz with a community that struggled to hold onto its history, identity, and humanity while fighting to save Mexican American Studies in the Tucson Unified School District(Borderlands Theater).  Más was commissioned and developed at Borderlands through a National New Play Network playwright residency.

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Summoning you downtown is a spectacle born to tell the story of how our community was betrayed in the name of American values. It happened in our state and in our city. It was witnessed through news media throughout the country. The consequences of this betrayal have been dramatic, and because the originating setting was the classroom, this betrayal involves our community's children.

Borderlands Theater is led by new artistic director Marc David Pinate, selected to lead the company last year after founding director Barclay Goldsmith stepped down after 27 years. Pinate is the force behind the presentation of Más, a reckoning with the Mexican-American studies debacle in the Tucson Unified School District.

The play was written by Milta Ortiz, Pinate's wife, underwritten by several agencies, among them the National New Play Network and a Tucson Pima Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. Ortiz has a solid body of work, as does Pinate himself, as actor, teacher and poet. The youth and energy of the young couple is palpable here, and clearly Pinate is re-envisioning and refining ideas about Borderlands' identity-firmly grounded in its official mission statement-as well as its role in the community. Más gives us a vision of what that might be.

This particular event's unfolding began as a series of classes at Tucson Magnet High School and other TUSD schools, geared to Chicana/o students, focusing on history, literature and government.

Ah, the perils of education. It was determined, as the story unfolded, that the courses were inculcating not only knowledge, but pride, as students learned who they were within the larger story of American history. The students in the class responded with increased attendance, a feeling of connection with one another and their world, and just a smidgeon of self-empowerment. And that was perceived as a threat by the more powerful in the state government. Classes were suspended, directives from the state education leaders were imposed and, although not necessarily the most critical but perhaps the most chilling action, books were banned and a law created that made the classes illegal.

But then the trouble was multiplied, and as in all churning for change, divisive and inflammatory problems emerged within the MAS movement itself.

I called this play a spectacle, with no intention of belittling it. It's not showy, although it has visual strength. The storytellers relate, episodically, some of the major moments of import from what might be called the origins through at least a part of the aftermath of this period. But the evening is stylistically conceived and executed. And it is meant to be experienced rather than merely watched.

In a way, this is old school theater. Way old. It is a rite; it has a spiritual context. In fact, it is initiated as an act of healing, from the time we arrive at the theater's entrance where we are asked if we wish to be blessed and cleansed with the smoke of sage. We enter the small theater; there is an authentic sense of the truly human and the truly sacred. The audience is seated on three sides, facing two intersecting lanes of sand, which are lined with orange tissue flowers. In the middle is a fire pit, into which are ceremoniously placed "book stones," symbols of the banned books. We are told we are in a sweat lodge-temescalli-a place common in the cultures of many indigenous peoples, a place for individual reflection, talk with others and for the expression of gratitude and prayers. Here are ceremonial dancers, wearing magnificent masks (created by Zarco Guerrero) adding an immeasurable dimension to the storytelling, and there is an ensemble of earnest players who take on many roles.

Over the next couple of hours, we are immersed in the heart and shockwaves of this event. It's not all slick. Some of the players seem to have more skill than others, but they live and die as a group. And they live.

The production staff has pulled off a notable environment. The play is well-researched, and the importance of dramaturgy is clearly demonstrated.

It's really unfair to single out the players, but they do deserve mentioning: Natalia Alvarado; Perla Vanessa Barraza; Angelina Duarte; Enrique García Naranjo; Roberto Garcia; Annabelle V. Nuñez; Luke Salcido; and Nicolás R. Valdez. The very capable dancers are Mario Ortiz; Eliza Butler; Daymeon L. Rembert; and Yvonne Montoya, who is also the choreographer.

All this could have unwound miserably into a didactic, embarrassing stew of self-indulgence. And at times there is a hint or two of unwinding. It is sometimes not clear what is being said, or how certain things fit with others. Maybe the effort is a bit too ambitious in what it attempts to tie together. And there is definitely a bias. (Although Ortiz attempted to interview many of those who held conservative and sometimes antagonistic views, they declined.)

But the commitment and earnestness of the troupe, cradled in the creative insights of the director, wins the day.

Foremost, perhaps, we see further development of Borderlands' belief that theater is not just an entity within the community, but it is the power of community: reflecting, creating, revising, re-creating.

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Borderlands' Más takes us back to a time our community broke, but reminds us that theater can heal and bring us back together : Summoning you downtown is a spectacle born to tell the story of how our community was betrayed in the name of American values.

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Article by Willamette Week on the play Judge Torres

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Article by Willamette Week on the play Judge Torres

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Info about this article and Judge Torres
This is an article by Willamette Week on Ortiz's play Judge Torres, inspired by the story of Xiomara Torres, who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into California at age 9. Xiomara Torres became a U.S. citizen, survived the difficulties of foster care, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, and Lewis & Clark Law School before eventually being appointed to the Multnomah County Circuit Court by Gov. Kate Brown in 2017.

My reaction
This true story so moved me.  I dug deeper and discovered that Torres had a CASA who stood by her for 3.5 years and that the play portrays that role as a spirit guide in the play.  This means a lot to me because I am a CASA, and there are days when I wonder if I am making any difference in my child's life.  What an amazing story.

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When Xiomara Torres crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into California at age 9 as an undocumented immigrant, she wasn't scared.

"I was too young to know what was going on," says Torres, 47, who was born in El Salvador. "I don't think I really understood I was coming to a completely different country and that we were leaving our country."

It was a transformative event in Torres' life-the conclusion of one astonishing journey and the beginning of another. In the years after her arrival, Torres became a U.S. citizen, survived the difficulties of foster care and attended the University of California, Berkeley as well as Lewis & Clark Law School before eventually being appointed to the Multnomah County Circuit Court by Gov. Kate Brown in 2017.

Torres' life is chronicled in Milta Ortiz's new play, Judge Torres, which will have its world premiere at Milagro Theatre. Allowing her story to be portrayed onstage wasn't an easy decision for the very private Torres, but she recognized the opportunity to share her experience as a Salvadoran immigrant who finds success in America was too important to turn down.

While developing the script, Ortiz realized that to mold Torres' life into a work of art, she would need to make some creative departures. "I think the most important piece for me where it had to be as accurate as possible was my involvement with the governor's office, obviously, because of the vetting and the selection process," Torres says. "But the childhood jokes, a lot of the things that happened and the college years, I really let them put it together the way they needed to put it together to tell a story."

Ortiz also added an unexpected character to the play-La Siguanaba, a famous figure in Salvadoran mythology who, in the play, is Torres' mentor, mother and fairy godmother. "She embodies Xiomara's grit, her light, the thing that got her through the adversity that she faced," Ortiz explains. "I believe in magic. That's what I kept thinking about when I interviewed her: divine intervention."

Among the most traumatic parts of Torres' life that the play addresses is the sexual abuse she endured as a child. When Torres was 13, she told her middle school counselor she was being mistreated, which resulted in her and her siblings being separated and placed in foster care. It's a topic Torres isn't eager to delve into, but she was willing to trust Ortiz-who, like Torres, is both a Salvadoran immigrant and a survivor of abuse.

"It's always been a fine balance for me-how much I share as a judge and how much I want to give to the community," Torres says. "If I can reach one kid who is, perhaps, experiencing some kind of sexual abuse in the home and that kid reaches out to someone and speaks out, then being so public will have been worth it to me."

Ortiz has also thought about the immense impact Judge Torres could have on audiences when it premieres. "I think there's a young Salvadoran out there or a young Latina who needs to see this type of role model," she says. "When I was growing up, I never heard about my people. I never saw myself reflected in the media. There was this longing to see myself represented, so how awesome for a young Latina to see someone like this."

SEE IT: Judge Torres is at Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., milagro.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 10-19. $10-$27.

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Milagro Chronicles Xiomara Torres' Path From El Salvador to the Oregon Judiciary

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Crossing into the U.S. at the age of 9 was a transformative event in Xiomara Torres' life-the conclusion of one astonishing journey and the beginning of another. In the years after her arrival, Torres became a U.S.

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I chose this meme first of all because it is funny.  Secondly, I think many dancers can relate to these feelings of being a dancer.

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This blog post was written on June 24, 2022.  Milta shares her struggles as a young immigrant who needed to help her parents navigate the language barriers and how the life of an immigrant caused her self-esteem issues.  This was not a surprise because she grew up in the '80s. I, too, struggled with similar issues moving to the States from Japan in the '80s and trying so desperately to assimilate into the American school culture.  In the '80s, if was not cool to be different, and I remember how I just wanted to blend in.  Like Milta, I believe it messed with my self-esteem too.  This post was powerful and I appreciated her last line "I’m writing this for anyone who's ever felt less than, don’t let it get to you. There’s nothing wrong with you; listen to your higher self. "

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I fluctuate between owning my power and being afraid of it. I could judge myself and say I’m too grown to not be in my power. But I’m over judging myself.

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This is a link to the gallery of pictures of the plays: Cycles, Judge Torres, The Water Project, Mas, and Sanctuary. These photos are powerful and tell a powerful story on their own.

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Check out Westsides Stories in April 2023! More info here!

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This is Milta Ortiz and her Fall 2017 Voice and Movement class at Pima Community College taking part in the Nelken Line project, inspired by Pina Bausch's 1982 choreography, Nelken, translated as carnations(stahl).  Many groups around the world took part in performing the "Nelken line."

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Spreading Cumbia Joy Across the Internet 2020.  I chose to include this video because I love her freedom in her dance.  Here she is dancing with her daughter.

This is her message:
We are beautiful
We are resilient
We are joy
We are human
Yo como vos
soy Salvadoreña
Y  como todos
tengo voz

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A powerful video based on a post-apocalyptic future where water is scarce due to the way water and its sources were misused. In this scene, two scavengers are doing an interpretive dance. In the play, they are scavengers drilling for precious water.

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December 13, 2018.  Bottom of the Santa Cruz River, Tucson AZ.  Work in process showing. featuring Milta Ortiz and Jonathon Heras. Video design by Adam Cooper Teran. Directed, devised, and scripted by Marc David Pinate.

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An article that shares what "Westside Stories" is about ~ A theatrical festival celebrating Tucson’s west side heritage and cultural pride.  Borderlands Theatre celebrates the history and stories of how the people made Tucson a diverse and vibrant city.

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Borderlands Theater will present West Side Stories, written by Veronica Weatherbie with contributions by Patricia Preciado Martin, Milta Ortiz, Silviana Wood and Marc David Pinate, edited by Milta Ortiz and directed by Jonathan Heras and Marc David Pinate. The theatrical festival takes place Thursdays- Sundays April 20th-30th, 2023 Pre-show Picnic and Activities start at 6:00pm. The Main Stage Show starts at 7:45pm at Bonita Park, 20 N. Bonita Avenue.

THE THEATRICAL FESTIVAL

West Side Stories offers audiences, a chance to eat alfresco with loved ones, check out an interactive game show, engage in a heritage talk circle, walk through an augmented reality installation and experience a local story told through shadow box installations. All before the play begins!

The heritage based theatrical festival is fun for all ages! It's meant to be shared with family and friends. In an effort to make it accessible it's a choose what you pay event! Online reservations are encouraged: Click Here. First come first serve. Free parking available in Bonita Ave lots. Accessible by bus lines 21 & 22.

Bring your own chairs, blankets, ice chests, food... anything you'd bring to a park! West Side Stories is a no alcohol event.

THE EXPERIENCE

Picnic With Family and Friends

The festival celebrates Westside pride and invites audiences to make a special family recipe to enjoy with family and friends. If you don't have one, check our website for a Sonorense staple, Chile con Carne Colorada. If you don't have time to cook, we suggest picking up dinner to go from a legacy West Side restaurant like Pat's, Tania's, St. Mary's, or Mariscos Chihuahua! Or show up and buy dinner from local food trucks.

Garden of Gethsemane Shadow Box Installation

Inspired by shadow box art, digital animations and shadow theatre techniques tell the story of Felix Lucero and a battlefield promise he made that led him to carve the statues that adorn the long-standing Garden of Gethsemane located on the banks of the Santa Cruz, just below the Congress Street Bridge.

Augmented Reality Experience

(co-presented with Arizona State Museum) Use your smartphone to view photo galleries depicting the people and places of the westside from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Holograms of people from the past tell stories of life on the Westside.

Community Land Trust Game Show

(co-presented with Pima County Community Land Trust and UA Theatre students)

A humorous , interactive game show where contestants from the audience undertake challenges and test their knowledge to keep their neighborhood from getting gentrified. A fun way to learn how community land trusts work to keep a stock of affordable housing in neighborhoods.

Heritage Talk Circles

Lifelong westside elders share their experiences living, working, and organizing in the Westside. Inspired by indigenous storytelling traditions, the talk circle is a place for all to listen, ask questions, reminisce, and share. We are honored to present the following heritage speakers:

Thursday, April 20

Armando Rodriguez will discuss the 1-C Americanization program and growing up in Menlo Park.

Friday, April 21

Patsy Lee remembers her father's store, Alan's Market, in Barrio Hollywood.

Sunday, April 23

Margo Cowan shares stories of community organizing on the Westside as director of the

Manzo Area Council

Friday, April 28

Barbara Lewis and her brother George Hollins share African American perspectives of the Westside.

Sunday, April 30

Sixto Molina remembers his time in the Tucson Police Department and his assignment to the Adam One Community Policing Project

THE PROCESS

The Barrio Stories Project was born out of an impulse to honor and celebrate Tucson's historic Mexican American Barrios. West Side Stories is deeply embedded in the Westside and is driven by professional artists working alongside current and former residents of the area. Borderlands artists formed a steering committee of Westside residents which met monthly to create a theatrical experience authentic to the Westside.

At the heart of the theatrical festival is a desire to share some of the rich Westside history from the voice of its residents. Residents were interviewed to create the play and installations that make up the festival. A reoccuring theme in the oral histories reflected how barrio residents supported each other to survive and build community, whether it was to erect an adobe home, keeping an eye on each other's children, or the credit Chinese grocers generously offered.

Westside Stories is a collaborative placemaking effort between residents,, artists, local government and educational and community service organizations.Project partners include City of Tucson Parks and Recreation who has advised Borderlands Theater on the use of Bonita Park and will complete significant upgrades to the Garden of Gethsemane; Tucson City Council Ward 1, who provided advice and is a festival sponsor; Pima County Community Land Trust providing technical expertise and working with UA students to create the Community Land Trust game show; and the Arizona State Museum who along with the UA Center for Digital Humanities created an augmented reality experience based on the archival photo research Borderlands Theater conducted.

Quote From Mayor Regina Romero

"Borderlands Theater celebrates the history and heritage of our historic barrios and Mexican American culture. They tell the real stories of the people and the places that made Tucson so vibrant and diverse. Remembering and celebrating our heritage is important. Sharing our stories together is powerful. I invite everyone to join me in supporting Borderlands."

MORE ON THE COLLABORATING ARTISTS:

VERONICA WEATHERBIE born and raised in Nogales, is an actor and writer. She was brought on to the Barrio Stories Nogales project in early 2020 as a Productions Assistant before the project took a 2 year hiatus. In that time she developed several "bridge" events, connecting the space between Nogales and Tucson artists and bridging the time between the original Barrio Stories event dates and final production in June of 2022. She attributes her time and work with Borderlands Theater on Barrio Stories Nogales to the enrichment and growth of her relationship with her hometown and community.

Her work with West Side Stories included conducting oral history interviews, collecting historical photographs, and organizing with the steering committee. Veronica is the primary playwright of Westside Stories' mainstage play. She expresses deepest gratitude to all the West-Siders for opening their homes and their hearts to her, allowing for the chronicling of their lives.

Milta Ortiz an award-winning playwright was born in El Salvador and raised in the Bay Area, she now calls Tucson home. She's developing Anita, a musical in collaboration with composer Quetzal Guerrero at Borderlands Theater. Current developmental workshop partners include University of Arizona and Childsplay. An excerpt of Anita was showcased at 4xLatine by the Latine Musical Theatre Lab. Milta was a 2020-21 Projecting All Voices Mellon fellow at Arizona State University, where she incubated Anita and solo play What Are You? In Fall 2022, she directed Ballet & Bagels, a TYA play she wrote with her students at Pima Community College in Spring 2022. Her play, Pilar and Paloma was part of Launchpad's 2021 BIPOC Reading Series Festival. Judge Torres, commissioned and produced by Milagro Theatre Group, toured nationally to universities (2019-2020). Milta is Associate Artistic Director at Borderlands Theater, where a few of her plays, including Sanctuary (2018) and Más (2015) have world premiered. Borderlands' production of Más toured Arizona universities. Más was produced at Su Teatro, Ubuntu Theatre Project/Laney College, and San Diego State University. She earned an MFA from Northwestern University, and a BA from San Francisco State University. She is proud to serve on the National New Play Network board of directors and as commissioner for the Tucson Convention Center.

JONATHAN HERAS is an actor and singer from Yuma, Arizona and now a Tucson performing artist and member of the Borderlands Theater Ensemble. He has worked with various local theaters including Live Theatre Workshop, Stories That Soar, Gaslight Theater, and many more. He develops and writes content with a group of artists called Digital Desmadre to create content and raise awareness through social media platforms. He has worked with youth as a theater teaching artist for over 10 years and is currently the musical director at Sal Pointe Catholic High School.

MARD DAVID PINATE is an indigenous Xicano making theatre in the Sonoran Desert region, his ancestral homelands. He has worked with nationally recognized companies such as Magic Theatre, Campo Santo, El Teatro Campesino, ShadowLight Productions, Steppenwolf, Cleveland Public, Milagro Theatre and the Kennedy Center for the Arts. The producing artistic director of Borderlands Theater, his passion for creative placemaking and place-keeping has led to developing and directing ethnographic projects focused on Southern Arizona narratives including: Más, (with playwright Milta Ortiz) a docudrama about the struggle to save the TUSD Mexican American Studies program; Sanctuary, (also with playwright, Milta Ortiz) the story of the Tucson origins of the Sanctuary Movement; Barrio Stories, large scale, site-specific heritage festivals centering the history and heritage of Tucson's Mexican-American barrios; and Sonoran Shadows, a shadow theatre adaptation of the stories of Patricia Preciado Martin. His work has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Foundation, National New Play Network, The Mellon Foundation, and Theatre Communications Group. His play writing credits include numerous street theatre actos, Fear of a Brown Planet with Paul Flores and Amalia Ortiz, 2012: Time of No Time (commissioned by La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, CA) and most recently, Antigone at the Border, a post-colonial adaptation of the Greek classic for which he received the New England Foundation for the Arts National Touring Project award to develop. He's been a founding member of performance collectives including Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word, Grito Serpentino, and the Hybrid Performance Experiment (the HyPE). Marc holds an MFA in Directing from the Theatre School at DePaul University and teaches theater at Pima Community College and creative placemaking at the University of Arizona.

Adam Cooper-TERÁN (ACT) is a native of Tucson, Arizona, born from a mixed heritage of Mexican, Yaqui, and Jewish roots. Known for their collaborations among various performance troupes, theater companies, musicians, dancers, educators, and activists, Adam's work has featured across the globe as large-scale media projections, musical interventions, and installations of digital storytelling.

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Borderlands Theater To Present WEST SIDE STORIES, Celebrating Tucson's West Side Heritage And Cultural Pride

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Borderlands Theater will present West Side Stories, written by Veronica Weatherbie with contributions by Patricia Preciado Martin, Milta Ortiz, Silviana Wood and Marc David Pinate, edited by Milta Ortiz and directed by Jonathan Heras and Marc David Pinate. The theatrical festival takes place Thursdays- Sundays April 20th-30th, 2023 Pre-show Picnic and Activities start at 6:00pm.

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This was tweeted by Milta on 8/9/22 about the musical Anita. This was a collaboration project with Quetzal Guerrero and Borderlands Theater, described as a "musical in the universe of Annie with the Tucson sound."

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9 https://t.co/S2QJ1zNUd3

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9 pic.twitter.com/S2QJ1zNUd3
— milta ortiz (@MiltaOrtiz) August 9, 2022

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9 https://t.co/S2QJ1zNUd3

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9 https://t.co/S2QJ1zNUd3

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See you at the 4xLatine Musical theatre showcase. ANITA is one of the featured excerpts at Teatro Latea, produced by @latinemtlab. It’s been great to work with the amazing team they’ve put together and we haven’t been in the room yet. $10 tix https://t.co/Rcu4nPuBi9

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This is a link to The New Play Exchange,(NPX) a digital library of scripts by living writers.  NPX mission is to "provide an open, egalitarian platform on which writers all over the world can share their work and others can discover that work."  There is a bio of Milta Ortiz and lists of the following plays and the plots: Pilar and Paloma, Sanctuary, Más, Disengaged, and You, Me and Tuno.

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When Carol and Micha find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After meeting Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize that they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford who meets Nidia, a Salvadoran with strong opinions at another detention center. Micha and Carol enlist Jeff Chord, who sits on the...

When Carol and Micha find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After meeting Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize that they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford who meets Nidia, a Salvadoran with strong opinions at another detention center. Micha and Carol enlist Jeff Chord, who sits on the National Presbyterian Council and before long Quaker Will Hewitt joins the group with ideas of his own. But Nidia and Victor are on opposite sides of the war, the number of detained Salvadorans keeps growing, and the group has to come to terms with their personal issues, and choose between the law of man and the law of God.

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When Carol and Micha find out about detained Salvadorans fleeing civil war, they set out to process political asylum applications. After meeting Victor, a Salvadoran in a Border Patrol detention center, they realize that they're going to need help. They call on Father Hartford who meets Nidia, a Salvadoran with strong opinions at another detention center.

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The Water Project is inspired by Donald Worster’s book, “Rivers of Empire,” about how water shaped the West’s political, cultural and physical landscape.  The Water project is a story in a post-apocalyptic world where water is scarce, and scavengers must drill for this precious commodity.

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Water doesn't seem terribly dramatic.

Until you consider its shortage, the destruction left in trying to bring it to cities, the pollution that infects it.

Borderlands Theater tackles the subject in its new site- specific piece, "The Water Project."

It's a collaboration with the Cleveland Public Theatre; the two theaters received a grant to develop the project.

It premieres here for a one-time performance in the bed of the Santa Cruz River at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13, and then will head to Cleveland, where it will be workshopped some more, and will then be presented at a new-play festival next year, says Marc David Pinate, who is directing.

"Obviously, water's a big issue in the desert, and in Cleveland the (Cuyahoga River) has a lot of pollutants. Water was the universal element."

The Cuyahoga was so polluted that it caught fire many times. Though it has improved, tons of toxic chemicals continue to be dumped into it.

Milta Ortiz, Jonathan Heras and Feliz Torralba devised the piece, which takes place in the future, when surface waters have disappeared and "diggers" mine for water to sell on the black market.

It was inspired by Donald Worster's book, "Rivers of Empire," about how water shaped the West's political, cultural and physical landscape, says Pinate.

"We're trying to tell the story of water in movement with media projection, animation and borrowed text from the book," he says.

And all in the riverbed.

Site-specific works are now Borderlands' mission, and they have done impressive work in the area - including last April's Barrio Anita project set in and all about the neighborhood.

Bring chairs and blankets and expect to spend about 25 minutes watching a story about water in the dry river at South Bonita and West Congress, a short walk from the Garden of Gethsemane. It's free.

For more information, head to borderlandstheater.org

30+ historic photos of the Santa Cruz River through Tucson

Contact reporter Kathleen Allen at kallen@tucson.com or 573-4128. On Twitter: @kallenStar

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Borderlands takes to Tucson's Santa Cruz River to tell the story of water in the West

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Water doesn't seem terribly dramatic. Until you consider its shortage, the destruction left in trying to bring it to cities, the pollution that infects it. Borderlands Theater tackles the subject in its new site- specific piece, "The Water Project." It's a collaboration with the Cleveland Public Theatre; the two theaters received a grant to develop the project.

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This is a biography of Milta Ortiz taken from https://miltaortiz.com/about.  

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My thoughts on what I learned about Milta Ortiz.  On her website, Milta describes that she is a 1.5-generation Salvadoran-American who learned how to speak English by watching Sesame Street, Electric Company, and re-runs of Laverne and Shirley. She remembers when she started thinking in English.   I related to her story in that I moved from Japan when I was 14 and distinctly remember when the switch in thinking from Japanese to English occurred.  I also related to the part of her story about learning English through Sesame Street.  Her projects are important to validate American experiences that are not white.

Biography
Milta Ortiz is a Salvadoran-American playwright, who moonlights as poet, performer, and writer. Originally from the Bay Area, she now calls Tucson home. Currently, she is a Projecting All Voices Mellon fellow at Arizona State University. Her most recent plays are Pilar and Paloma and Cycles, a commission from StoryWorks Theater and the Arizona Daily Star, which received a virtual world premiere in August 2020. Her play Judge Torres, commissioned by Milagro Theatre Group toured nationally to colleges and universities in the 2019/2020 season. She received NEA Artworks and NALAC Artist grants to develop and produce her play, Sanctuary, which premiered at Borderlands Theater in September 2018. She devised, wrote and directed Solving for X for the Working Classroom, which premiered in 2017. Her play, Más was produced at San Diego State University (2018), Su Teatro (March 2017), and co-produced by Laney College (March, 2016), and Ubuntu Theater Project (May 2016). Más premiered at Borderlands Theater in September 2015 thanks in part to an NEA Artworks grant and was a semi finalist for the Steinberg-ATCA Award. Borderlands’ production toured to Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University in 2016 and 2017. Más was developed at Borderlands Theater through a National New Play Network residency and a NALAC individual artist grant in 2013/2014. Más was selected to the Latino Theater Commons Carnaval play festival, and the Kilroys List in 2015. Other produced plays include A Tucson Pastorela (18th-21st annual productions), Sonoran Shadows, Disengaged, Fleeing Blue and solo play Scatter My Red Underwear. She is associate artistic director at Borderlands Theater. She earned an MFA from Northwestern University and a BA from San Francisco State University.
from website: https://miltaortiz.com/about

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Where I come from

Where I come from

Where I come from

I learned to speak basic English in about six months, watching Sesame Street, Electric Company, and re-runs of Laverne and Shirley. (I say Banana like a mid-westerner even though I grew up in Cali.) I was eight when I became aware that I was thinking in English.

Growing up as a 1.5-generation Salvadoran-American, outside of my home life, I didn't know much about my culture. I often felt in between. Experiencing life in this way heightened my observation skills.

By college, I realized that as a Latina, I hardly saw myself reflected in literature, history, or media and that growing up, I'd longed to see myself reflected. That longing drives me as a writer and theater maker.

I am called to create as a validation of my American experience.

Biography

Where I come from

Where I come from

Milta Ortiz is a Salvadoran-American playwright, who moonlights as poet, performer, and writer. Originally from the Bay Area, she now calls Tucson home. Currently, she is a Projecting All Voices Mellon fellow at Arizona State University. Her most recent plays are Pilar and Paloma and Cycles, a commission from StoryWorks Theater and the Arizona Daily Star, which received a virtual world premiere in August 2020. Her play Judge Torres, commissioned by Milagro Theatre Group toured nationally to colleges and universities in the 2019/2020 season. She received NEA Artworks and NALAC Artist grants to develop and produce her play, Sanctuary, which premiered at Borderlands Theater in September 2018. She devised, wrote and directed So lving for X for the Working Classroom, which premiered in 2017. Her play, Más was produced at San Diego State University (2018), Su Teatro (March 2017), and co-produced by Laney College (March, 2016), and Ubuntu Theater Project (May 2016). Más premiered at Borderlands Theater in September 2015 thanks in part to an NEA Artworks grant and was a semi finalist for the Steinberg-ATCA Award. Borderlands' production toured to Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University in 2016 and 2017. Más was developed at Borderlands Theater through a National New Play Network residency and a NALAC individual artist grant in 2013/2014. Más was selected to the Latino Theater Commons Carnaval play festival, and the Kilroys List in 2015. Other produced plays include A Tucson Pastorela (18th-21st annual productions), Sonoran Shadows, Disengaged, Fleeing Blue and solo play Scatter My Red Underwear. She is associate artistic director at Borderlands Theater. She earned an MFA from Northwestern University and a BA from San Francisco State University.

Where I'm going

Where I come from

Where I'm going

Thanks to a PAV Mellon fellowship at Arizona State University, I am excited to work on two projects. I am collaborating with Quetzal Guerrero and Borderlands Theater on Anita, a musical in the universe of Annie with the Tucson sound.

I'm researching and marinating on a performance piece that focuses on Afrodescendencia (African ancestry) en El Salvador and in my own lineage. The working title is based on a question I was often asked when I first moved to Oakland. What Are You Mixed With? As someone who is 100 percent Salvadoreña, I've been curious about it too.

I'm working on a firs draft of MIO: Growing Up Salvi (working title). A memoir I've thought about writing for years that I was recently prompted to begin. It's both terrifying and empowering to sit with my own truth. I'm grateful to the Arizona Commission on the Arts for the Research and Development grant for the opportunity to embark on this journey.

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I learned to speak basic English in about six months, watching Sesame Street, Electric Company, and re-runs of Laverne and Shirley. (I say Banana like a mid-westerner even though I grew up in Cali.) I was eight when I became aware that I was thinking in English.