Richard Salinas and Herbert Siguenza, members of the comedy group Culture Clash, are back with 57 Chevy at the San Diego Repertory Theatre. The play will be available for streaming July 26 through Aug. 15. 

The one-man memory play stars Salinas and is co-directed by Siguenza, two co-founders of the famous funny troupe from San Francisco, California. Also co-directing is Sam Woodhouse, San Diego Repertory artistic director. 

The play is by multiple Los Angeles Emmy Award-winning writer Cris Franco (My Family, East Los High), who now returns with another political work.

57 Chevy is a baby-boomer comedy entailing the humorous exploration of “double immigrants” who first moved from their homelands in Mexico City into the barrios of the United States and later into the suburbs in search of opportunity, color TV, and the middle-class American Dream. The play is 75-minute long and explores the bicultural-bilingual childhood within a Latino household produces nostalgia for some. For others, it is a work that demonstrates the courage and perseverance of the Latino community to pursue and want better for themselves and their family.

Pay-what-you-can tickets are available here with a suggested price of $35. 

Featured Photo: Richard Salinas in ’57 Chevy’ (Credit: San Diego Rep)

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By Cris Franco

The prolific Herbert Sigüenza has written scores of plays he has performed thousands of times during his 37 years as a founding member of the renowned Chicanx comedy troupe, Culture Clash. And for the last decade, the playwright/performer/graphic artist has brilliantly brought to life the iconic Spanish painter Pablo Picasso via his solo piece, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, which he has played to sold-out houses nationwide.

Now, from March 6 through April 4, audiences can view on-demand the film adaptation of this spellbinding bio-play which the Los Angeles times christened “a stellar success!” Also serving as the very hands-on founder of San Diego Repertory’s Latinx theater advocacy council Amigos del REP, I persuaded my very busy amigo to discuss his play, life, art – and his life in art.

CRIS FRANCO: Herbie, I meant to ask you this question at the end of our interview, but I’ll ask you this first: How is San Diego Repertory faring amidst this pandemic that has shut-down live theater?

HERBERT SIGÜENZA: We’re hanging in there. We have enough donors to keep us alive, keep the doors open. Of course, there are less expenses because we’re not spending money on productions. But it means that we’re now focusing on creating virtual content.

CF: Which brings us to the film adaptation of your play A Weekend with Pablo Picasso. Your captivating portrayal of Picasso is insightful and deeply inspiring. It’s a terrific movie.

HS:  Wow. Thanks, I’m very proud of it. We shot it in six days on San Diego Repertory’s stage with some exteriors at a guy’s patio in Escondido. I think it transitioned well from stage to film.

CF: It’s very Picasso. Inventive, surprising and passionate. It poses so many riveting questions about why humanity creates – questions Picasso is not about to answer.

HS: No. He’s too busy working.

CF: I most loved when you as Picasso say, “The world doesn’t make sense. Why should my paintings?”

HS: That’s Picasso all the way.

CF: How would you synopsize your play?

HS: Like the title, it’s about a weekend with Pablo Picasso. I want viewers to experience three days with the man in his villa outside of Cannes (France) named La Californie. There’s really only a slight storyline of him having to complete a demanding commission of six paintings and three vases over one weekend. That’s the motor of the story.

CF: How much of what you present is adapted from true events?

HS: I’d say 80 percent. I did come up with the action of him only having three days to fulfill the commissions to give the piece a ticking clock, urgency. But the text is derived directly from his quotes and what people said about him. I did a lot of research for the play.

CF: It’s evident. You even transformed yourself to look like him. With you as a sort of a Picasso expert, how would you describe him?

HS: A restless soul who often said that he worked ceaselessly because he was running from death. Believing that if he kept creating, he could keep death at bay. And I can totally relate to that. I think that’s why I write, perform and continue with my graphic art. Subconsciously, I’m thinking, “Well, as long as I make art, I’m not going to die. I’m having too much fun. I’m doing something.”

CF: I’ve heard it said that Picasso evolved art by de-evolving it, do you agree?

HS: Absolutely. He changed the way we see and create art. The figure and perspective had been approached the same way for centuries. He totally destroyed that. He and Braque invented Cubism which, in a bizarre way, decomposes an image, then puts it back together. You get different perspectives, different lines — a very weird geometric way of looking at the world — truly revolutionary.

CF: “Revolutionary” is often used to describe him. Against what was Picasso revolting?

HS: Formalism. The factories of the newly-started Industrial Revolution were turning humans into slave-like worker-robots on an assembly line. It was dehumanizing and Picasso revolted by creating pieces that drove us back to our humanity …

CF: …because the ability to abstract is so uniquely human. So, what inspired your delving into this revolutionary?

HS: At age seven, while in my dentist’s waiting room, I picked up a copy of a photo essay entitled The Private Life of Picasso by Douglas Duncan. He photographed Picasso for six months —  taking baths, painting, playing with his children, eating. I loved what I saw and I thought, “Wow, this viejito is great!” I told my mom, “When I grow up, I wanna be this viejito.” She replied, “No, this loco is Picasso.” And I thought, “No, he’s not a loco, I think he’s onto something.” For decades I researched Picasso, sensing that one day I would play him. When I turned 50, I presented the book to San Diego Rep, saying that I wanted to base a play on it. And to my surprise, they said, “Okay, write it!” [chuckle] I read everything on Picasso, but my first draft was more like a lecture without a story. Then I thought of including the audience as art students to whom Picasso is giving a master class. It worked because it allowed me to speak directly to the audience.

CF: And by having your character of Picasso actually paint and sculpt during the piece beautifully conveys the fact that he was consumed by his creativity.

HS: Oh, yes, his art was his number one priority. Anything personal, like a love life came second. Even when American museums were having retrospectives honoring him, he’d turn down attending saying that a trip to New York City would interrupt his work.

CF: How do you capture someone who is so free and elusive?

HS: Well, I kind of understand the guy. I’m basically playing my dad and I also have some of those elusive qualities.

CF: I’ve admired your many skills for so long and have seen how dedicated you are to your crafts.  How have the life-long sacrifices of being a writer, performer and graphic artist impacted your life?

HS: I don’t know how to do anything else and I won’t do anything else. That’s why my favorite quote of the play is where Picasso says, “The second job is death.” The minute you start doing other things besides your art, you cease to be an artist. I’ve taken that to heart by doing something creative every day. If you were to stick me in a cubicle to sell insurance — in three days, I’d be dead.

CF: What do you want an audience to take away from your play?

HS: That everyone has a creative spirit. And that, although creating is a selfish act, you have to keep reminding yourself, “This is my life, my vision.”

CF: I agree. The world needs art. I know I certainly do. Having worked in entertainment for nearly four decades now, do you think Latinos have advanced in that time?

HS: No. It’s a definite no. And to prove my point, all you have to do is turn on the TV right now.

CF: Statistics vary, but we’re always listed as having at most 5% of the speaking roles in TV and film.

HS: And probably a smaller percent behind the camera. People say that it’s gotten better. No, it hasn’t. We’re invisible. East Asian actors are much more prevalent than we are.

CF: I think it’s because Hollywood might find them non-threatening. Perhaps because they have very proper British accents and are smaller in numbers than we are.

HS: Yet in so many workplace comedies, there’s that funny East Indian co-worker in the breakroom – which is great for those actors —

CF: Yes, bravo for them. But it’s a form of discrimination (against Latinos) by exclusion. We’re 18% of the U.S. population but, once again, represent at most 5% of the speaking roles. Any way you look at it, we’re grossly underrepresented. 

HS: That’s why I don’t even think of Hollywood anymore. In the 90s, after our Fox TV sketch comedy series aired, Culture Clash was all over the place pursuing that carrot.

CF: Endless meetings upon meetings upon meetings, right?

HS: Yes. It got to a point where I realized, “You know what, I’m wasting time here.” Again, back to Picasso. Am I being an artist? No, it seems like I’m being a hustler, a beggar of sorts. Liberation only came when I said, “You know what, I’m not gonna even think of Hollywood – ever. I’m just going to create my theater and be happy.” And I’ve been happy for decades now.

To see the uncompromising Sigüenza’s dazzling portrayal of el maestro Pablo Picasso, watch CalTechLive! presents A Weekend with Pablo Picasso. Directed by Tim Powell and Todd Salovey, produced by San Diego REP, it’s on-demand from March 6 thru April 4. Live talk-backs with Sigüenza on selected dates. Tickets and all info at www.events.caltech.edu/picasso.

Featured Photo: CalTechLive

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Feature titles include: Going Rogue, Hometown Proud, Illegal, In the Defense Against Tyranny, La Llorona, Linda and the Mockingbirds, Sound Of Justice, The Horror Crowd, Tu Me Manques, Tuscaloosa, and Phoenix, Oregon. 

This year’s festival also presents several Orange County filmmakers, programming partnerships with the cities of Denver, Colorado and San Antonio, Texas. It also offers a special focus on democracy. The program showcases movies from Mexico, Bolivia, United Kingdom, Italy, Taiwan, Macedonia, The Republic Of Moldova, Ghana, Tunisia, India, Iran and Iraq.

Conversations with filmmakers, workshops and special programs are also part of the festival’s 11th annual edition.

The OC Film Fiesta is a program of Media Arts Santa Ana, MASA, a project of the nonprofit Community Partners.

For tickets and more information, visit www.masamedia.org

—CESAR ARREDONDO

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By Elia Esparza 

The hit baby-boomer comedy, 57 CHEVY, about an immigrant family’s misadventures in the mid-century suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, has played to standing ovations in San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Houston and East, and West L.A.  This summer of 2019, 57 CHEVY continues its comedic quest by cruising to Beverly Hills’ pastoral TreePeople Park on the weekend of August 23^rd and 24^th. One week later, it will be the featured showcase production of San Diego Repertory’s New Latinx Play Festival on the evening of (Saturday) August 31st.  

The one-man comedic tour-de-force garnered rave reviews for both its star, Culture Clash’s Ric Salinas:

“Magnetic” and “Hilarious”

— Los Angeles Times and L.A. WEEKLY

Emmy Award-winning writer Franco attributes his play’s staying power to its timeless subject matter.

“Everyone can relate to feeling like you don’t belong. In 1964, our famiia packed up our Chevy and moved from our diverse, old, South Central neighborhood to a brand new housing tract where the streets, kids, and houses all looked the same. We moved to the San Fernando Valley.”  

What follows is 75 uproarious minutes exploring the playwright’s bicultural-bilingual childhood. “Our living room furniture was covered in clear plastic to keep it looking ‘beautiful’.

My Old World dad forbade my teenage sisters from going ‘piyama parties’. My mom spoke a hybrid-Spanglish (saying “baby-city” for “babysitter”). We five kids were squeezed into a tiny tract house in Mission Hills all under the watchful stare of ‘Gringo Stalker Jesus’ – that picture of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus with the eyes that follow you around.”

Chockfull of retro-references — at one point the young narrator imagines he’s astronaut John Glenn orbiting over his relatives in Mexico City — it’s much more than a joyously nostalgic valentine to a more welcoming era. In these days when immigrant families are being maligned, the piece has taken on a weighty new relevance. Veteran agitprop actor/writer Salinas puts it this way,

I’ve been performing political theater for 30-plus years, and as light and entertaining as 57 CHEVY appears on the outside, it may be my most political work so far.” 

–Ric Salinas

Both audiences and critics praise the subtly powerful and far-reaching message. Tony Garcia, avant-garde Chicano director of Denver’s historic Su Teatro Cultural Arts Center christened it, “An evocative and poignant coming-of-age masterpiece.”  And, journalist Dale Reynolds of Stage & Cinema applauded the show’s wholesome take as “Daring to be optimistic.”

The show’s newest fan is renowned television writer/producer Tommy Lynch, who has recently optioned the property for adaption into a family sitcom. Why?

“Because I love this show,” says the kid’s TV hitmaker. “From the moment I first read it, I was taken by the story’s big heart and bigger laughs!” Franco reflected saying, “I’m hoping these true-life anecdotes recounting the lighter side of our family’s assimilation will bring some healing laughter at this challenging time. I think they will.” 

To join in the healing laughter of 57 CHEVY at TreePeople Park Amphitheater on (Friday) August 23^rd and (Saturday) August 24^th @ 8 PM log onto www.treepeople.org/canyonnights. To see 57 CHEVY on Saturday, August 31^st @ 7 PM at San Diego Repertory’s Latinx New Play Festival log onto https://securesite.sdrep.org/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=13170

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Los Angeles — The Culture Clash men are at it again to the delight of their fans.  Their current production, a fully staged production of SAPO, based on Aristophanes’ The Frogs will debut at the Getty Villa in February. The performance features Buyepongo, an L.A.-based band whose vibrant, polyrhythmic sound fuses cumbia, merengue, punta, jazz, and funk.
Culture Clash’s (comprised of writer-actors Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza) riotous adaptation takes place in three epochs as it dissects three important elements inspired by Aristophanes’ original: An ancient journey on the road to Hell, recent fire storms near the 405 and an after party in the 1970’s with a Latin rock band from the Bay Area also called SAPO (Frog), hoping to meet a record industry God but ending up somewhere between Malibu parties and the El Monte Swap Meet.
The production will be Culture Clash’s fourth dramatic encounter with the ancient playwright at the Villa, having previously performed interpretations of Artistophanes’ Peace and The Birds, as well as last year’s workshop performance of Sapo as part of the Villa Theater Lab’s series of works-in-progress.
In 405 BCE, Aristophanes’ The Frogs won first prize at the Lenaia dramatic festival and was later staged that same year at the Dionysia festival. The comedy tells the story of the god Dionysus who, despairing of the current state of Athens’ tragedians, travels to Hades with his slave Xanthias to bring Euripides back from the dead.
In Sapo, Culture Clash precariously plays on the Aristophanic structure of gods, watery journeys, deception, damsel deities, and a chorus of frogs, while also diving deep into the matter of competing playwrights, who will smartly, fiercely, seriously, and humorously wrestle with their respective and competing bodies of work and styles.

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