Written by Bel Hernandez Castillo

A Hollywood celebration happens in Tucson, Arizona, on October 19, when actors, producers, and fans gather to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking Showtime family drama Resurrection Blvd. The hit series, which ran for three seasons, broke new ground as the first dramatic television show created, written, and performed by an all-Latino cast.

For creator Dennis Leoni, who was born and raised in Tucson, this milestone marks a true homecoming — where his real-life family and his beloved on-screen family reunite in a heartfelt celebration of legacy, culture, and storytelling.

The event, titled “A Day with Resurrection Blvd. – The 25th Anniversary Celebration,” will take place at the historic Fox Tucson Theatre, the crown jewel of downtown Tucson. This landmark Art Deco venue is the ideal setting for a series that continues to resonate with audiences and inspire new generations of Latino creatives.

“Resurrection Blvd. is the defining moment of my lifelong career in television,” says Dennis Leoni, creator and executive producer. “It’s incredibly meaningful to bring this 25th Anniversary Celebration to my hometown, and to host it at The Fox Theatre — the very place where I saw my first movie over sixty years ago. I can’t wait to share the pilot, behind-the-scenes clips, and stories from the making of this groundbreaking series.”

The celebration will feature a screening of the pilot episode, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and an engaging live panel discussion moderated by Tucson born talent Dan Guerrero with cast and crew members reflecting on the show’s lasting influence.

Confirmed guests include Dennis Leoni, Tony Plana, Michael DeLorenzo, Ruth Livier, Nicholas Gonzalez, Mauricio Mendoza, Daniel Zacapa, and possibly Esai Morales,  The panel will be moderated by acclaimed producer and performer Dan Guerrero.

To honor the show’s enduring impact on Latino representation, the event will also introduce The Leoni Filmmaking Scholarship, a new initiative to support emerging storytellers. A $2,500 scholarship will be awarded to a local high school film student, nominated by their teacher and selected for excellence in storytelling. The winner will be announced at their school and formally recognized on stage during the celebration.

For fans seeking an elevated experience, VIP tickets offer access to an exclusive after-party, where guests can mingle with the cast and creative team, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, and raise a glass to the show’s remarkable legacy.

“Resurrection Blvd. broke barriers and gave a voice to stories that continue to inspire,” says Chris Scott of Elephant Scout, co-organizer of the event. “This anniversary celebration at Fox Tucson Theatre is not just about looking back—it’s about celebrating how far Latino storytelling has come and where it’s headed next.”

Whether you grew up watching Resurrection Blvd. or are discovering it for the first time, this 25th Anniversary Celebration is a powerful reminder of the show’s enduring message — that family, identity, and resilience transcend generations. 

This exclusive celebration, presented by Elephant Scout Films, will take place at the historic Fox Tucson Theatre, located at 17 W Congress St, Tucson, AZ, on October 19, 2025.  Special thank to The Leo Kent, the Resurrection Blvd. 25th Anniversary official hotel partner.

To join in on the celebration in Tucson on October 19 Event Details:
What: A Day with Resurrection Blvd · The 25th Anniversary Celebration
Where: Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701
When: October 19, 2025. Doors Open at 2:00 pm MST
Tickets: Available at www.foxtucson.com/resurrection. General admission and limited VIP tickets for the exclusive after-party are on sale now.

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Why is it American Mariachi? Because the play takes place in the U.S. and there is a difference between Americans of Mexican descent and Mexicans from Mexico where the Mariachi music tradition began. Therefore it is American Mariachi directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela and presented by the Latino Theater Company at The Los Angeles Theater Center. It is a story of many revelations. 

American Mariachi, written by Jose Cruz Gonzalez takes place in 1970’s, a little over 30 years ago, when a woman mariachi group was unheard of, here in the U.S., and certainly in Mexico.  It was an age where women were just beginning to ask why? They could not get a credit card on their own, why not? They could get fired for getting pregnant. Why? They were protesting wearing bras…why not? And a group of young Mexican-American girls were wondering why they couldn’t be in a Mariachi group.  At least they do in Gonzalez’s play American Mariachi.

“The play is about a group of women who adopt mariachi during a time when that wasn’t permitted,” explains González. “Mariachi was always male-dominated; for women to enter that world was a challenge on many fronts. The characters in the play come together because of their love of the music.”

Family looms large in American Mariachi, however, in this case the family is a bit fractured.  While the patriarch (Sal Lopez) is out earning money for the family as a mariachi musician, Lucha (Elia Saldaña), his daughter watches over her mother who has onset dementia.  When Lucha discovers her mother’s reaction to one particular song, she sets out to figure out why, and a way to play that song for her. She decides to form her own mariachi band and to learn how to play the song and sing it.  But she must do this stealthy as her father would not approve. 

Lucha enlists her cousin’s help, played by Esperanza América. Both go on a mission to find the right ladies for their all-girl Mariachi. They struggle to get them on board, but ultimately they find the repressed Isabel (Alicia Coca), who suffers under the thumb of her macho husband, the exceedingly shy Gabby played by Vaneza Mari Calderón (who is in fact is a real-life mariachi musician), and the much older sexpot, hairstylist Soyla played by Crissy Guerrero. Fidel Gómez, plays a total of four characters, all distinctly different and delightful.

Geoffrey Rivas plays the family friend who for some reason has been on the outs with Lucha’s father for years.  Lucha secretly enlisted him to teach the wanna-be Mariachi band how to play the instruments and sing in the mariachi style. 

American Mariachi had its world premiere in 2018 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and has been produced across the U.S., including at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago; Alley Theatre in Houston; The Herberger Theater in Phoenix, AZ, and the Old Globe, South Coast Repertory and PCPA in Southern California. 

An early staged reading at Denver Center’s Colorado New Play Summit featured América, Saldaña, Guerrero and López in the roles they now inhabit six years later in Latino Theater Company production.

Ruth Livier who powerfully and effectively plays Amalia Morales, the dementia afflicted mom, takes center stage in this production. She literally plays almost all her scenes as Amalia, center stage, becoming a focal point in this production of American Mariachi.  This is accentuated by a sort of “alter ego” played by mariachi, model, drag and theater performer Yalitza “Yaya” Vasquez-Lopez who plays Lucha’s Tia Carmen.  Vasquez-Lopez opens the play dressed in all black, singing a haunting rendition of  “La Llorona” (the weeping woman).  Livier also completely transforms into Doña Lola for a quick scene and before you realize it is the same actress, the scene is masterfully delivered. 

At the end of the play, Livier appears center stage as Amalia, all dressed in white, she elevated to the highest level shining above all on stage.  Both the end of the play and the opening bookend the production with the most beautiful tableaus in the play.  Another stand out moment also comes towards end, when Lopez belts out in song accompanied by the Mariachi, which pays tribute to his wife. 

The heartbeat of the mariachi music is provided by the on-stage mariachi band with original arrangements by music director Cynthia Reifler Flores.  “American Mariachi speaks loudly to Latino Theater Company’s core audience, but also to women everywhere,” says Valenzuela. “The live music and comedy guarantee that American Mariachi remains highly entertaining — but there’s a tough story underneath the surface.”

American Mariachi opened on May 11 at The Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles and continues through June 9.  

The American Mariachi creative team includes scenic designer Maureen E. Weiss; lighting designer Pablo Santiago; sound designer John Zalewski; and costume designer Maria Catarina Copelli. The production stage manager is Alexa Wolfe, who is assisted by Martha Espinoza..

The Latino Theater Company runs The Los Angeles Theatre Center, a landmark building in Downtown’s Historic Core, since 2006. Earlier this month, the company was honored with six Stage Raw awards for four different plays produced in 2023.

American Mariachi runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through June 9. Tickets range from $10–$48.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Parking is available for $8 with box office validation at Los Angeles Garage Associate Parking structure, 545 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (between 5th and 6th Streets, just behind the theater).

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

The post ‘American Mariachi’ Dares to Ask Why Not? first appeared on .

5th of July – July 12th
Times TBA
Laemmle Music Hall
9036 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

By Elia Esparza

A raw, comic, retelling of the Book of Job, filled with all kinds of California misfits you’d never want to run into on the open road.

How many times have we planned every detail of a trip or journey, even one taken when it’s not really your thing but life says, you gotta go? I mean, it’s for your loved one… and you go.

Film Director Camilo Vila and Writer Monty Fisher have taken a loving and simple task of spreading a loved one’s ashes in accordance with the deceased instructions and it turns into an outrageous comedy of errors.

Kind of reminds you of John Candy and Steve Martin‘s Planes, Trains & Automobiles only the lead actor is an Afro American professor of French Literature, Orlando Young, portrayed by Jaleel White, who is tasked on a mission to fulfill his father’s final wishes. And, all the uproarious characters he meets along the way of trying to get back home, well it is a deliciously diverse cast– Dyana Ortelli, Ruth Livier, Roel Navarro, and in cameo roles… Jose Maria Aguila, Arthur J. Gonzalez, Jaime Vasquez, and Rafael Gritzewsky all make the most of their characters making it impossible to forget them!

Also, starring in 5th of July:  Gary Anthony Williams, Jaleel White, Sean Kanan, Brent Briscoe, Sy Richardson, Susan Beaubian, Katie Amess, Aleszea Blanche Germann, Azur-De, and David Banks.

5th of July will have a special screening on July 5th through the 12th at the Laemmle Music Hall. Stay tuned for the times, Latin Heat will keep you updated. Definitely, this is a movie screening not to miss.

We caught up with the busy director and had a candid conversation about his film.

LatinHeat: Camilo, where did you get the story idea from or what inspired you to make 5th of July?

Camilo Vila: The idea was one hundred percent my partner’s, very loosely based on something that happened to him. However, he wanted to do a thriller and I felt it should be a comedy. I finally convinced him to let me do a draft,

and as they say, the rest is history.

LH: Is this your first feature film? I know you have impressive TV credits… difference of challenges… film vs. TV?

CV: No I’ve done at least six other features.

LH: The characters are a mixed bag of ethnicities and cultures and it is a fabulously diversely cast movie — did you create the characters for the actors you had in mind or did you create the actors and held auditions to cast?

CV: With the exception of the Irma, the Dyana Ortelli character, they are of my imagination. When I was writing Irma, I kept hearing Dyana’s voice.

It’s not every day a Latina actor in Hollywood gets the opportunity to work on a film with a wonderfully diverse cast and a renown Latino director — Camilo Vila! Working on 5th of July gave me that opportunity and the added bonus of working opposite Jaleel [White], whom I knew and loved as Urkel on Family Matters. Playing Jaleel character’s friend and neighbor, Irma, an off-beat, quirky Latina, was fun and exciting, and a learning experience!  Even more exciting is the fact that 5th of July was recently voted Best Comedy Film at the Black International Film Festival!” Dyana Ortelli

LH: Brent Briscoe sadly passed away before seeing the finished film, what do you think he would have thought of 5th of July? He is great as Dakota.

CV: Brent did tell his agent he thought this and some other movie he did were the best characters he’s ever played. And, it’s so sad.

LH: What challenges were the hardest to overcome in making your indie film?

CV: Money.

LH: Tell us about funding and how you funded and a clue as to your budget.

CV: One hundred percent, my partner raised the money from private entities. If you include some of the deferments, including mine, the budget is close to $900,000.00.

LH: What do you hope viewers will take from this funny movie?

CV: In previous screenings, the audience reacted exactly the way I was hoping. They laughed from the very first scene until the last one. And, afterward, they will say how fun it was!

LH: Also, what advice would you give to up-and-coming filmmakers who desire to make their first movie? Any tips to avoid some of the pains you went through?

CV: Don’t! Go to medical school. [He laughs out loud] There’s no way to avoid the pain.

Thank you, Camilo!

Camilo Vila was born in Havana, Cuba and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. He was raised in New York City, Puerto Rico and Miami, where he developed a love of people watching and storytelling. He is known for 186 Dollars to Freedom (2012), Aurelio: A Rebel with a Cause (2015), and The Worms (1978).

5th of July
Four Fish Films
Director: Camilo Vila
Writers: Monty Fisher, Nick Machado (contributing writer), Camilo Vila
Producers: Monty Fisher, Mercedes Neves-Hatchwell, Pamela M. Staton, Camilo Vila
Composer: Roger Bellon
Cinematographer: Germano Saracco
Stars: Gary Anthony Williams, Jaleel White, Sean Kanan, Brent Briscoe, Dyana Ortelli, Ruth Livier, Sy Richardson, Susan Beaubian, Katie Amess, Roel Navarro, Aleszea Blanche Germann, Azur-De, David Banks

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