raul garza

When a long-forgotten Vietnamese soldier appears unexpectedly in 2018, he shakes the comfortable lives of Vietnam War veteran Pablo and his wife, Adriana. As they revisit and reconstruct wartime events, they realize the heavy toll of past actions on their souls. Fifty years after the war, they are forced to ask themselves: can you ever make peace with evil done in the name of good?

Jerome is an weathered, middle-aged, literary has-been. As a result of mismanaging prolific gifts and excessive tendencies, he hovers in a moral and artistic limbo where his sole inspiration is tennis legend Roger Federer.

When Jerome is invited to headline a tour marking the twentieth anniversary of his legendary bestseller’s release, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery and self-forgiveness. And as he relives his most celebrated and reviled moments, Jerome rewrites their context and legacy.

In the end, Jerome must decide whether it’s better to be a hero in someone else’s story, or a victim in your own.

The meaning of life may very well be found on aisle four, behind the canned tomatoes. In this short play, three very distinct individuals intersect in their one shared space – the grocery store.

When Gabriela dies suddenly, her grown children Rita, Lucía, and Georgy battle for ownership of her final pot of frijoles. As the siblings quarrel, a series of frijol-guides manifests from the humble Country Crock container, provoking them to re-examine their identity, privilege and Latinidad. In the end, Rita, Lucía, and Georgy discover the richness of familia where they least expect it.

Lucas has amassed the coveted middle-aged-man spoils: an adoring wife, a devoted son, a successful-but-not excessive career. His return to his hometown for professional recognition promises to be a well-earned victory lap.

Emily seeks solitude and relief from the weight of the world hoisted on her 17-year-old shoulders. Her impulsive retreat to a deserted bridge seems like a passable, if not ideal, solution.

When they intersect on the footbridge Lucas designed, Emily and Lucas are forced to resolve the impasse by confronting past traumas and fading dreams. In the end, they learn the difference between surrender and acceptance, and find comfort in the power of place.

In a remote Southwestern desert town, tough-hearted Esther scrapes by as proprietor of the family motel alongside her idealistic niece, Octavia. In addition to the crumbling motel, their property is home to a sacred and magical tree, Arbolito, that thrives in an environment it should not endure.

When Arbolito begins to wither, its roots expose long-buried secrets. And as their beliefs and shared truths unravel, Esther and Octavia must choose between saving a vanishing past or embracing an uncertain future.

What if the world was changing just as you figured out where you fit in? What if you felt like your feet were cemented to the past, but you wanted to change the future? What if your sense of self spanned way beyond what the world told you it should be?

“She Was Here” lives in that uncomfortable space. That place where you swear you can still smell your abuela’s perfume. That place you thought was yours alone, but now the whole world seems to want a piece of. That place you want to flee, but cannot bear to leave behind.

Based in a rapidly changing Austin community, “She Was Here” travels four generations to confront family legends, dreams, disappointments, and what-ifs. The play illuminates how families grapple with change, inheritance and identity, and offers revealing glimpses of the people and places that hold us.

Inspired by shared stories of community members, “She Was Here” asks if it’s possible to love what makes us different while letting go of what made us that way.

Twenty-something Emi just wants to be a writer – a writer who tells truths,
shatters myths, and rips the lid off her immigrant family’s generations-old
secrets. Stifled by an overprotective mom, Clara, and an underproductive
brother, Gus, Emi dreams of escaping the confines of the family’s crowded
Logan Square brownstone.

A daring relationship with an exotically-stable intellectual, Webster, who
steps gracefully off the nearby El Train and into her life, ignites Emi’s artistic
passion. She revels in the success of a revealing but unflattering short story
based on her family, even at the cost of her most treasured relationships.
Meanwhile, Gus confronts his own demons with the aid of a metaphysical cow
head, and Clara reluctantly searches for fulfillment in her adopted homeland.

When Emi’s novel is rejected by a major publisher, she is forced to question
her artistic honesty, and examine the role of story in her life. Together with
her Mexican/Mexican-American family, Emi searches for meaning in their
collective experience, and faces generations-old regret for events that shaped
their lives. As they unravel and “re-ravel” past events and the storytelling
process itself, we discover yet another perspective of their shared story,
delivered

Vanguard brain doctor Belén believes she has reinvented brain
trauma therapy. Going beyond her comfort zone of science, Belén
incorporates the soul body, dead reckoning, and virtual reality
in an unconventional but transformative, protocol. Now she just
needs to prove it works.

Belén’s first trial patient, Simon, seems to be responding, but
his partner, Eva, is skeptical. When Eva halts the experimental
treatment, Belén finds herself stranded – her physical body in
one place, her soul body in another. Here, in a Mexico-inspired
limbo, Belén meets Eva and Simon in their soul forms, and
tastes unfiltered freedom and cultural inclusion for the first
time.

Ruby depicts the delightful and terrifying migration between
humans’ planes of existence. It asks us, “Where do I belong?”
and “How can I get there?”

It’s 1988. And high school sophomores Carlos and Becca just want to
fit in. Carlos has a secret power – the ability to create truly
awesome mixtapes. Unfortunately, he has few friends with whom to
share this skill.

It’s 2019. One of Carlos’s awesome mixtapes has found its way into
the hands of upwardly mobile “boo’s” Xavi and Jenny, exposing the
pair’s unspoken conflicts while resurrecting Carlos and Becca’s
vintage angst.

The Last Mixtape follows a group of friends and a pair of lovers
as they dare to want more and feel deeper.

Traveling from her native Mexico, Gloria joins her husband,
Victor, on a migrant farm workers’ camp. Her arrival on the day of
President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration reveals stark contrasts
between the American dream and her reality.

A series of visits by a liberated, contemporary Virgen de Guadalupe offers Gloria a
glimpse of her life and legacy in the context of other
presidential eras (Reagan and Trump), and presents a life-altering
choice: stay in the United States, and accept her status as a
member of the under-class, or abandon the agreed-upon plan and her
future family to claim dignity and fulfillment.

Confessions of a Mexpatriate is an original one-man performance depicting the misadventures of a media-saturated American man, Samuel, who embarks on a journey across Mexico in search of his life’s meaning. Part memory, part fantasy, Mexpatriate chronicles Samuel’s discovery of Mexico’s cultural beauty and his own identity as a Mexican-American.

Above all, Confessions of a Mexpatriate is a celebration of self-acceptance, wrapped in the vibrant context of the Mexican-American experience. Through laughter, tears, and the occasional bolero, Mexpatriate reveals the power of human compassion, and invites audiences to “just be” – a message that at once embraces and transcends Latinidad.

Returning to Chicago after a 20-year absence, Fernando, searches for the truths left buried in his idealistic young-adulthood. When he convinces his longtime friends to re-examine the group’s shared adventures and their consequences, their vivid flashbacks and awkward present-day interactions uncover more questions than answers.

Pig. A Requiem for the ‘90s explores the emotional landmarks partially submerged in past, present, and the grey area in-between. The narrative arranges selective experiences from characters’ past and present lives, creating a crooked breadcrumb trail of truths and perceptions. Lovingly depicting an era of American popular culture held in arguably lower esteem than other decades, the play seeks balance between hindsight and nostalgia.

A world-weary Latina, Celeste, and her Anglo husband, Martin return home to the rapidly-changing neighborhood where they both grew up, eager to fight the surge of gentrification.

Complicating Celeste and Martin’s return is a crew of uncooperative local characters, including an advice-spinning Mexican Spirit Guide who takes on the form of a human-sized raccoon.

Facing the threat of a yuppie-centric Dog Park encroaching on her neighborhood, Celeste discovers the secret of her heritage, her purpose, and her longing for a sense of home.