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Arguments over immigration can become so loud and fractious that we may forget that the issue involves human beings with dreams and desires like our own. Enter the Children's Theatre with a moving play that serves as an urgent reminder.
In "I Come From Arizona," a new drama that premiered over the weekend in Minneapolis, we see a young person caught up in the immigration morass. Gabi (Ayssette Muñoz) is a 14-year-old Mexican-American living with her family on Chicago's South Side.
She's been accepted into a competitive high school all the way across town, a trip that requires multiple transfers between buses and trains. On the first day of school, her teacher (no-nonsense Shá Cage) gives Gabi an assignment that involves interviewing family members about their history.
The problem is that Gabi's father, Reymundo (Ricardo Vázquez), has just left for Mexico to visit his gravely ill father. He may not be able to return because he does not have immigration papers (although it's never expressed that clearly). And her mother, Dolores (Nora Montañez), has neither the time nor the inclination to answer Gabi's probing questions. Mom is busy working another job to pick up the slack in Reymundo's absence. Her papers may not be in order, either.
A keen, caring work by playwright Carlos Murillo, "Arizona" is not an overtly political play by any stretch. But it offers voices and perspectives not often heard in the immigration debate — especially those of children.
As staged by director Lisa Portes, the production makes palpable Gabi's unsettled world. School lockers are in ominous motion in the change of scenes in "Arizona." Her train ride, too, takes on a frightful aspect, especially when a man berates the 14-year-old for taking his job. A dreamlike sequence, during which the voices in her head get loud and distorted as Paul Whitaker's lighting design turns ominous, helps us to feel her fear of a world crashing down on her.
The drama plays out with characters we can understand or at least relate to. It's hard not to root for Muñoz's Gabi, who is personable when we meet her. She is a girl going places, even if her nerves get twisted between the dreams she imagines for herself and the desire to protect her family.
Muñoz creates a deeply affecting character out of the potential makings of an after-school special. She wears her youthful anxiety credibly, combining the struggles of the world with those of adolescence to give us an honest portrait of a hopeful child in a crucible.
Gabi's world also includes a younger brother, Jesús (insistent and cute Luca La Hoz Calassara), whose vulnerability challenges her to grow and be more of a hero. And as she navigates her new school, she encounters a clueless and earnest snob named Fiona (Madison Neal) and a curious friend, Ricardo (Antonio De La Vega).
"Arizona" starts in darkness with a refrigerator light illuminating the face of Gabi and her father. The play brings the so-called "Dreamers" out of the shadows.
rpreston@startribune.com 612-673-4390 Twitter: @rohanpreston
