By Maria Cecilia Aguilar
A man in fatigues pursues two men across a bare stage and calls on border-patrol agents to arrest them. He badgers the two men with his gun and calls them "wets." He goes through their belongings looking for drugs and sneers when the men say they are actors and Americans. Desperate to prove they are drug-smuggling illegals, the vigilante continues his search. But instead of drugs, he finds a rehearsal schedule for a local theater. Instead of drug money he finds a parking permit for a popular San Diego mall.
It is an unsettling beginning to a play called "Bordertown." The boundary between what is real and what is imagined about the U.S.-Mexico border ceases to exist, and the audience is confronted with volatile issues and stereotypes. Theater-goers bear witness to a provocative scene that seems too outrageous to be true, and yet is a true experience at the border. Fortunately, humor diffuses the tension. The vigilante backs down when the two men profess an insider’s knowledge of the very theater to which he is a subscriber. The audience laughs and the stage is set for a border drama.
In "Bordertown," a play by Culture Clash, the theater is la frontera and everyone is an actor. Whether they are observers in the audience or performers on the main-stage, they have a stake in how the drama unfolds, and their ideas of the border — whether formed as a tourist or as a long-time resident — offer unique responses to the questions who are you? and where do you think you’re going? Similarly, in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, citizens are in the midst of creating a distinct culture that reflects life on both sides.
Life along the U.S.-Mexico border is the focus of "The Border," a two-part documentary which premieres nationally on PBS in September. The program is a production of Espinosa Productions and KPBS-TV in San Diego, in collaboration with KUAT, Tucson, Ariz., KNME, Albuquerque N.M. and Galan Productions, Austin, Texas.
"The Border" uses character-driven stories to look at a region that is all too often characterized as a "problem area," replete with road-signs of families in flight and stock images of armed guards, drugs and the mighty dollar rescuing a devalued peso. The program not only undercuts sensationalized notions of the U.S.-Mexico border, but questions where we obtain our imagery and offers an alternative source of information — the men and women who live there.
"‘The Border’ allows cultural voices to speak on their own terms," says Paul Espinosa, executive producer. "It articulates different perspectives and lets audiences draw their own conclusions."
Fifteen million people live in the borderlands of Mexico and the United States, making their home in or near one of the 14 principal cities along the 2,000-mile stretch of land from the Pacific to the Gulf Coast. Each individual has a story to tell and the six narratives included in the documentary show that there is more to the border than drugs and illegal immigration. These vignettes explore how tourism, land and labor disputes, religion, the global economy and cultural tensions shape border life and infuse the region with a unique sense of urgency, vitality and grandeur. Through poignant interviews, "The Border" acknowledges the complexity of a region so diverse in its potential it is not always easy to discern between threats against one’s way of life and promises of greater things to come.
This dilemma is explored in Bordertown, a play produced by Culture Clash, a Latino theater group based in Southern California. A segment in the second hour of "The Border" looks behind the scenes at the creation of a border play. In Bordertown, the U.S-Mexico partnership is depicted as an unhappy marriage. The portrayal is symbolic of the tension between border communities, specifically between Tijuana and San Diego.
"Our marriage is political," says actor Herbert Siguenza. "And it’s a marriage on the rocks."
San Diego plays husband to Tijuana’s wife and on stage, the estranged couple is separated by a makeshift fence and kept undercover by blankets resembling their respective national flags.
Tijuana: I want to leave you. You’re such an arrogant bastard. You’re thoughtless. Why are you so abusive?
San Diego: Tijuana, I’m the best thing that ever happened to you. You need me, your children need me, and God knows how many of them you have!
The scene is controversial for all its suggestions of co-dependence and distrust between nations. At the same time, it illuminates the dynamic realities of this reluctant relationship; and while the border stands as a formidable barrier, it does not inhibit progress or spontaneity. The political, economic and cultural marriage between the United States and Mexico is productive in spite of the strain; it is expressive in spite of miscommunication. Bordertown’s artful mix of caricature and real-life characters in dramatic situations provide a refreshing and timely perspective of a region that is often misunderstood by the rest of the nation.
"These plays mean something to us now," says actor Richard Montoya. "There’s something in them that might tell us a little bit about our future; and only by bringing to life these various characters are we able to do that. The very act alone is empowering."
As the millennium approaches, the U.S.-Mexico border will play a pivotal role in defining a new century of politics and cultural experience. Who we are and where we go from here, as nations and as citizens, may very well be determined by what happens along this volatile yet vibrant international boundary.