Before Sex and the City defined women’s friendship on screen, a group of Latina creatives in Los Angeles were already breaking ground with their own unapologetic, vibrant take on love, sex, and sisterhood. For those of you who missed it back then, or weren’t born yet (yes it’s been around a while but still fresh and relevant), Luminarias (1999) the first Latina chick rom-com, is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video During Hispanic Heritage Month, offering audiences a chance to rediscover a trailblazing piece of cinema.

Written by acclaimed playwright and actress Evelina Fernández and directed by José Luis Valenzuela, Luminarias brought together a dynamic cast including Marta Dubois (Star Trek: Next Generation), Angela Moya (Zoot Suit), Dyana Ortelli (Legends of Evergreen Fields, Rocket Power), Robert Beltran (Star Trek), Geoff Rivas (Blood In Blood Out, La Bamba) Cheech Marin (Primos, Born in ELA), and Scott Bakula (NCIS: New Orleans). The film centers on four professional Latinas who gather at an East Los Angeles restaurant—fittingly named Luminarias—to share their truths about careers, relationships, family, and, yes, sex.

Dubbed the “Latina Sex and the City of the West Coast,” the film was ahead of its time in representing Latina women not as stereotypes, but as complex, independent, and funny protagonists with agency over their love lives and ambitions.

For many in the Latino community, Luminarias was more than just a film; it was a cultural touchstone. It reflected the realities and aspirations of women often invisible in Hollywood stories, while celebrating East L.A. as a vibrant hub of community, friendship, and identity.

Now, 25 years after its original release, the film is finding a new audience on streaming. Its return couldn’t be more fitting for Hispanic Heritage Month, inviting a new generation to experience this groundbreaking and entertaining work that helped pave the way for greater representation in Hollywood.Whether you’re revisiting it or discovering it for the first time, Luminarias is a must-watch reminder that Latinas have always had the ganas, humor, and brilliance to tell their own stories.

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Whittier Boulevard is a funny and poignant commentary on ageism, presented in Latino Theater Company’s members Fernández, Lopez, Rivas and Rodriguez with Valenzuela directing.

In this ensemble-devised work, the company uses its trademark blend of comedy, drama, music, dance and theatrical magic to transport us to Los Angeles in the year 2042. Years of fires, torrential rain, anarchy and bloodshed have led to a totalitarian city-state where the elderly disappear, their stories forgotten. When authorities make a surprise visit to the home of faded Chicana starlet Veronica Del Rio on the eve of her 75th birthday, she enlists the help of her loudmouth nurse, a kindhearted policeman-fan, and a down-on-his-luck poet. Will Veronica disappear and be forgotten before she finds true love?

“This ensemble of actors has been working together for the last 38 years,” says Valenzuela. “In this play we look at ageism, but we also explore finding the divine within ourselves so that we can create a better society. It’s fun and campy, but we also address serious social issues, such as the current whittling away of civil rights in this country.”

Whittier Boulevard feature original music by Robert Revell and choreography by Urbanie Lucero. The creative team includes scenic designer François-Pierre Couture; lighting designer Pablo Santiago; sound designer John Zalewski; projection designers Yee Eun Nam and Yuki Izumihara; and costume designer Naila Aladdin Sanders. The production managers are Nathan Edelman and May Fei.

Whittier Boulevard opens on Saturday, April 29 at 8 p.m., with performances thereafter taking place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through May 28. Six preview performances take place April 20 through April 28 on the same schedule. There will be two additional performances, on Monday, May 1 and Monday, May 15, both at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $22–$48, except opening night (April 29) which is $58 and includes both pre- and post-performance receptions. Previews are $10.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. SpringSt., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Parking is available for $5 with box office validation at Joe’s Parking structure, 530 S. Spring St. (immediately south of the theater).

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (213) 489-0994 or go to www.latinotheaterco.org.

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Los Angeles — The Latino Theater Company announces their Fall 2020 Virtual Season. Over the next five months, the company will stream a combination of archival footage of past, fully-staged hit productions; live streamed, “sneak-peek” readings of plays set for on-stage production in 2021; live online conversations with company members and live readings of new plays selected for the company’s annual Unmasking New Works playreading series.

Now in its 34th year, LTC has operated The Los Angeles Theatre since 2006. All events are scheduled, on the respective dates listed below, to take place at 7 p.m. PST. All events are free and will be available for viewing at www.thelatc.org/.

Opening on Tuesday, Aug. 18 with with a production of Premeditation, a dark romantic comedy written by resident company playwright Evelina Fernández and directed by LTC artistic director José Luis Valenzuela. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, but how many end in murder? 

Aug. 25 – Streaming of production of Solitude, also written by Fernández and directed by Valenzuela. Inspired by a collection of essays on Mexican thought and identity by Octavio Paz, Solitude explores love, death, destiny and family through a contemporary lens, accompanied by live music from cellist Semyon Kobialka.

Aug. 28th – A sneak-peek reading of August 29, exactly 50 years ago, when Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar was killed while covering a large Chicano-led anti-war demonstration in East L.A. A university professor is writing a book on the life of Salazar. As she writes, those days from the late 1960s and early 1970s come to life, helping her recall the past and challenging her to renew her activism. Written and first produced in 1990 by members of the Latino Theater Company, then known as the Latino Theater Lab, August 29 was initially announced to open this month at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and is now scheduled to receive a fully staged production in 2021.

September will bring archival video of La Olla. Fernández and Valenzuela team up again for La Olla, adapted from the Roman comedy The Pot of Gold by Plautus and inspired by the Rumberas films of the golden age of Mexican Cinema. Also, Playwright’s Alfredo Ramos‘ The Last Angry Brown Hat by has four former members of the Brown Berets, a 1960s militant Chicano civil rights group, who get together after the funeral of a pal. Together, they confront the dichotomy between their youthful anger and radicalism, and their current, more conformist lives.

This is a Man’s World, a semi-autobiographical coming of age story written and performed by LTC founding company member Sal Lopez, is scheduled for Sept. 8 and a sneak-peek reading of SHE, a new coming-of-age drama by Los Angeles-based emerging playwright Marlow Wyatt on Friday, Sept. 11. ike August 29, the on-stage world premiere of SHE has been postponed until next year.

La Victima created by El Teatro De La Esperanza, a story infused with humor, music and dance, with the background of history of Mexican-US immigration from the intimate perspective of two families. Watch archival footage of the 2010 revival featuring the late Lupe Ontiveros (Selena, Desperate Housewives), who was one of LTC’s founding company members, on Sept. 15.

On Sept. 18, catch a sneak-peek reading of the newest play by Evelina Fernández: Sleep with the Angels. Molly is separated from her husband and in desperate need of a childcare provider. Then she discovers Juana standing at her doorstep. Soon, Molly and her kids are swept up into Juana’s magical and charming ways. But, who is Juana, really.

Sept. 22 brings archival video footage of last season’s Home, writer/performer Nancy Ma’s coming-of-age tale about growing up sandwiched between two cultures. Join Ma and director Geoffrey Rivas for an online conversation on Sept. 23.

A sneak-peek reading of Just Like Us by Karen Zacariás is set for Sept. 25, with the online conversation preceding it on Sept. 24. Based on Helen Thorpe’s bestselling book of the same name, this documentary-style play follows four Latina teenage girls, two of whom are documented and two who are not, through young adulthood. The previously announced Los Angeles premiere will now take place at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in 2021.

Archival footage of Fernández’s Los Angeles Times “Critic’s Choice” The Mother of Henry will stream on Sept. 29. Travel back to the working class melting pot of East LA of the 1960s where five diverse employees in the returns department at the iconic Boyle Heights Sears form a tight bond as they cope with upheaval in their personal lives, their community and the rapidly changing world around them during the course of one tumultuous and historic year – 1968.

The Unmasking New Works play reading series will stream from Oct. 1st – Nov. 20th, every Friday, with a preceding on-line conversation set for the Thursday prior to each reading. Plays to be read will be selected and the final schedule will be announced in September.

In October, the LTC will stream Evelina Fernández’s epic A Mexican Trilogy. Part 1, Faith, will stream on Oct. 6; Part 2, Hope will stream on Oct. 13; and Part 3, Charity, will stream on Oct. 20. Travel with the Morales family through decades of the Mexican-American experience.

Archival footage of Dementia, written by Fernández will stream on Oct. 27. The play tackles topics taboo in the Latino community, including homosexuality, AIDS, teen pregnancy and euthanasia.

Closing out the season on Friday, Dec. 11will be archival video of Latino Theater Company’s signature holiday pageant, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin. Join the tens of thousands who have become transfixed by the story of Juan Diego, a simple peasant to whom the Virgin Mary appeared on four occasions in the mountains of Tepeyac near Mexico City in 1531. A Los Angeles Times “Critic’s Choice,” the production has been featured by The New York Times, American Theatre, Univision, Telemundo and Fox News among many others. 

All Fall 2020 Virtual Season events are free and will be available for viewing at www.thelatc.org/.

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By Bel Hernandez

It was taco Tuesday at the Homegirl Cafe, when two Chicanas from Boyle Heights/East L.A. sat down to talk about The Mother of Henry, playwright Evelina Fernandez’s latest play, which opens Saturday, March 23rd at the Los Angeles Theater Center in downtown L.A.

Fernandez is at it again.  They say to “write what you know” and she knows a lot about growing up in East Los Angeles.  A native of Arizona, she came to Los Angeles as a nine year old. Being raised by a single mother in the predominately Latino neighborhood of East L.A. in the 60’s has shaped Fernandez’s perspective of the world. Actress turned writer, Fernandez shares her perspective in the stories she chooses to tell, whether it’s on stage, on film or TV.

Although she first gained prominence as an actress, she was one of the original cast members of the acclaimed Luis Valdez play Zoot Suit, then went on to star in two films produced by Latinos, about the Latino community.  

After landing roles on television and a couple of major studio films, one of which was the female lead in American Me which was directed by her former Zoot Suit cast mate, Edward James Olmos, she became frustrated with the lack of work and the quality of roles, and decided it was time to make some changes. 

Her first foray into writing was in 1996 when she wrote the play How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive.  In 2000 she wrote, produced and played the lead in the film Luminarias, which was a commentary about race, sex and love from the perspective of single Chicana and her three friends.  Groundbreaking for its time, Luminarias was written, funded, acted and directed by the Latino community — and this was almost 20 years ago.  

Instinctively, Fernandez always knew she was a writer.  As a sickly child, she remembers her mother reading to her while in the hospital, filling her mind with the magic of storytelling.  And although she started acting in high school, she was a writer first, recalling that she was already writing short stories while attending Rowan Elementary in East L.A.

Embracing the power of the written word, Evelina has now realized her true calling.  “I used to describe myself as an actress who writes. Now I say I am a writer who acts,” she declares.

A founding member of the Latino Theater Company (LTC), for the past 20 years she has written plays with the members of LTC in mind, tailoring the characters around their strengths. Two of those plays, Solitude and Dementia have made the Los Angeles Times Critic’s Choice list.

Fernandez’s The Mother of Henry takes place 1968, a year of watershed moments in the United States. Connie, a single mother gets a job at Sears in Boyle Heights, an economic hub in Los Angeles where people of all cultures and nationalities shop and work. When Connie’s son gets drafted and is sent to Vietnam, her mother learns to pray to La Virgen de Guadalupe for his protection.

On the eve of the premiere of The Mother of Henry, Fernandez talks about the inspiration for her characters, the casting, and ther return as a writer to the Los Angeles Theater Center stage after a small hiatus.

Latin Heat:  After working as an actress why did you decide to become a writer?

Evelina Fernandez: I started writing for the people in our company [The Latino Theater Company].  I guess my first play was for Lupe [Ontiveros] and Angela [Moya], How Else Am I Supposed Know I Am Still Alive.  I wanted to write a play because they were such great actresses and they never got a chance to play anything of substance.

LH:  Tell us about The Mother of Henry?  Where does the inspiration for this play come from.

EF:   The Mother of Henry is about a time I lived through.  It was inspired by my mother who used to work at Sears on Olympic and Soto in East L.A. My brother enlisted in the Navy and he ended up going to Vietnam.  It was a very stressful time for all of us. My mom was a single mom in her late 30’s early 40’s at the time, as is the character of Connie in the play.

The story is also inspired by the times we lived in. 1968 was such a shattering year for our country. We lost Martin Luther King, and then Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. It’s when the Black Athletics raised their fist in the Black Power protest at the Olympics in Mexico, which was such a big deal.  There was also the massacre in Tlatelolco in Mexico, and the “burn your draft card” demonstrations. Then at the end of that year the country elects Richard Nixon. All that happened in 1968.

LH:  You take us back to a very important time in our country’s history. As you did with your Mexican Trilogy plays.

EF:   This play kind of fills in the blanks. The Mexican Trilogy kind of skips over the 60’s.  It starts in the early 60’s and ends when President John F. Kennedy is assassinated [in 1963].

The late 60’s was a time when the world was changing.  My mom’s generation was really patriotic, they lived through World War II,  they were all pro America. And then our generation, we were totally against the war, because people we knew were dying.

LH:  A time of extreme division.  And then there was your grandmother’s generation.  She also an inspiration for this play. In what ways?

EF:  We weren’t raised very religious.  We never went to mass or anything like that.  Not until we moved in with my grandparents. My grandmother was a “Guadalupana” she used to pray to the “Virgen de Guadalupe” all the time.  So my grandmother was always telling my mother ‘Tienes que rezar,’ ‘You need to pray the rosary. You need to confess your sins. You need to go to mass’.  

So in the play when Connie’s son goes into the service, his mother, the character inspired by my grandmother, is nagging her that she is not a good Catholic, so Connie begins to pray to the Virgen de Guadalupe, and the Virgen appears to her, they become friends, and they develop a friendship.  There is a bit of magical realism in there.

LH:  That’s just what I was thinking!

EF:  It’s part of our culture and our reality. That we believe — we believe in signs when something happens.

LH:  Tell us about the cast of The Mother of Henry.

EF:  A lot of our cast have been part of our artistic family for quite a while. Xavi Moreno, my daughter Esperanza America, Ella Saldaña North…they were all in The Trilogy. Cheryl Umaña Bonilla was Jose Luis’s student at UCLA. We have experience with them. They’re young actors who are very talented.

Also, this is a very diverse cast of characters, from different backgrounds. Because when my mom worked at Sears, her best friend was Italian and her other best friend was Canadian and there is also a Jewish character. A departure from what I usually write.

LH:  So this play takes place in East L.A.

EF:  Yes. The play takes place mostly at Sears, at Connie’s house, and at a “burn your draft card” demonstration that Connie goes attends.

LH:  A lot of your plays center around women.  Do you think that growing up without a dad influenced your writing?

EF:  Absolutely.  Jose Luis [her husband and artistic director of the LATC] says ‘Every time you write a Latino character, he’s bad’.  And I guess it’s true, there is a bad Latino character in this one too. [Laughing]. He’s a womanizer, like my father was.  My father didn’t drink, he didn’t have any “vicos” [vices] but man he was a womanizer. He cheated on my mom all the time. But you know, when they got married she was 15 and he was 18.  What do you know when you’re that age.

LH:  If you could, what would you say a young Evelina growing up in East L.A.?

EF:  I would say ‘Have more confidence; look at the beauty in your community;  and, create your own work. Don’t sit around waiting for someone else to offer you a job’.

Fernandez is a testament to what she believes.  Her plays are unapologetic portraits of Latinos in her community and they create work for her and her fellow Latinos. Her plays have garnered critical acclaim and awards. They encompass many issues plaguing society as a whole, but with a bird’s eye view of Latinos; stories about life, from military, to civil rights, family, AIDS, and matriarchy, and so much more.

So what’s left to write about? The focus of Fernandez’s next play has already been decided. As the baby boomer generation finds itself taking on the caregiving for their parents, it is a hot top of debate, and one that resonates with all audiences and with Latinos who tend to want to be there for their parents in their golden years. Told thru the Fernandez Latina lens, it will be another slice of Mexican culture we can look forward to enjoy.

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