Syracuse, NY – Syracuse University Latino organizations join forces with Syracuse Stage to spark discussion about cultural representation through the arts. This collaborative program includes a community dialogue series organized by La Casita Cultural Center, and an art exhibition of work by Latin American artists from the Point of Contact art collection.
La Casita will co-host a panel discussion titled “Repairing through Representation and Cross Collaboration” on February 19, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. The presentation will take place at Syracuse Stage prior to the 2:00 p.m. performance of the East Coast premiere of Espejos: Clean. La Casita will also host a reception following the performance on February 19. Guests are invited to La Casita at 4:00 p.m. tomeet and greet the production ensemble of Espejos: Clean and enjoy a tasting of authentic Spanish cuisine by Jandy’s. La Casita is located on the ground floor of the Lincoln Bldg., 109 Otisco St., Syracuse,NY, 13204. Free parking is available.
The panel discussion as a “Prologue” to the matinee performance, will offer the audience an opportunity to reflect on how community health and repair can begin through cultural representation and bilingual theatre.
Panelists will include the playwright, Christine Quintana; the production’s director, Melissa Crespo, as moderator; Syracuse Councilor-at-Large, Rita Paniagua; and La Casita’s Community Engagement Coordinator, Catalina Niño Cordero.
Select works from the Point of Contact permanent art collection will be on view at Syracuse Stage from February 15 through March 5. The show, curated by Syracuse University associate professor of Studio Arts, Juan Juarez, will be installed in the mezzanine area of the theater.
Espejos: Clean is a bilingual play by Latina playwright Christine Quintana. The production is performed in English and Spanish, featuring supertitles in both languages throughout. The story portrays the lives of two women from very different backgrounds who meet at a destination wedding in Mexico and are each forced to consider the possibility that they are not alone in their struggles. The production will run at Syracuse Stage from February 15 to March 5, 2023.
According to director Crespo, “Christine Quintana’s Espejos: Clean perfectly embodies the saying ‘We don’t see the world as it is, we see the world as we are.’ I am honored to lead this beautifully heartbreaking and at times hilarious story that pushes us to heal our own trauma and challenge our own assumptions. Christine says this play, ‘is an exercise in compassion.’ I am excited to see audiences in Syracuse embrace this play, no matter where you come from.”
La Casita’s youth program “TC: Toward College / Talleres Culturales”, a college preparatory program for Syracuse Middle School and High School students, offered a theater workshop where program participants read and discussed the play last fall. The workshop was led by Syracuse University Associate Professor Gail Bulman, Syracuse Stage staff, and students from the Maxwell School’s PLACA (Program on Latin America and the Caribbean). Now the group of teens from La Casita will have a chance to see the play performed, thanks to a generous donation from the Reisman Foundation that included tickets for La Casita’s youth and families. The TC program at La Casita launched in the fall of 2022 thanks, in part, to the support of the Central NY Humanities Corridor.
