In a black box theatre in the northwestern Chicago’s Wicker Park, Roberto Peloni of Argentina’s Compañía Criolla gives a blistering performance in the North American premiere of El Brote, a one-man drama about an actor’s unravelling psychological state. On the campus of St. Augustine, a bilingual college in Uptown, Chicago’s own Colectivo El Pozo performs Elvira, a world premiere that tells the true story of a Mexican immigrant and mother who took sanctuary in a local church for a year. Meanwhile at the Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s most comprehensive LGBTQ community center, San Francisco-based comedian Marga Gomez pays homage to her Cuban father and queer Latino nightlife in Latin Standards. And in a storefront in the southwest neighborhood of Chicago Lawn, local company Teatro Tariakuri presents El Piélago de las Calamidades, a U.S. premiere comedy about the traveling theatre troupe in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
This eclectic array of local, national, and international talent represents just the first week of Destinos, the seventh annual Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. Running through November 17, the festival features 21 productions at 15 venues across the city, employing more than 315 theater artists from the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. In past years, Destinos attendance has exceeded 20,000, and the 2024 edition is billed as its most expansive lineup yet.
Still to come are the North American premiere of Azira’i, a Brazilian play about a female shaman; La Memoria de los Sésiles, a family-friendly North American premiere from Chile about environmentalism; Ecuadorian-born, Los Angeles-based magician Siegfried Tieber at the Goodman Theatre’s Magic Parlour; three world premieres by Chicago companies Concrete Content, Subtext Studio Theatre, and Visión Latino Theatre Company; and a remount of Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, a hit solo musical by Chicago native Brian Quijada, performed by Chicago artist Satya Chávez, plus much more.
Destinos is one of the signature programs of the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA), an organization founded in 2016 through a collaboration of the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA), and the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance. According to CLATA’s mission statement, “Our goal is to cultivate a vibrant and inclusive theatre community, by presenting and producing Latine theatre that celebrates and promotes the richness and diversity of our Latinidad.” Co-founder and executive director Myrna Salazar, a beloved figure in the Latine theatre community, led CLATA until her death in August 2022. Jorge Valdivia, formerly the NMMA’s director of performing arts, succeeded her in January 2023.
During Valdivia’s tenure, Destinos has grown organically as more organizations approach CLATA hoping to get involved. New partners this year include the Center on Halsted; Albany Park Theater Project, a youth ensemble producing original works about immigrant and first-generation communities; and the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University, which supports the development of new musicals. In future years, Valdivia hopes to partner with institutions beyond Illinois that can support touring opportunities for local Latine artists.
Although Chicago has more than 200 theatres, less than two percent are Latine-owned, says Valdivia. CLATA not only presents these companies’ work through Destinos, but also offers resources to help their productions succeed. Each local Latine theater that is part of the festival receives a grant ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. “For some companies,” says Valdivia, “this could make the difference between actually having a show run or not. I think it’s important to highlight that some of the companies that form part of Destinos, that’s all they do. They have a show run during Destinos, and then they won’t have another one until Destinos the following year because they don’t have the financial resources.”
In addition to providing grants, CLATA offers graphic design and translation services for Destinos productions, some of which are performed in Spanish (and this year, in Portuguese and Ze’eng eté, as well) with English subtitles. In 2023, CLATA piloted a ticket buyout program to help each production make it through the first week of its run, often the most financially unstable period before word of mouth and critical recognition boost ticket sales. Valdivia hopes that Destinos attendees realize how valuable their presence is. “They’re supporting people’s dreams,” he says. “I think, as attendees, we don’t often think about the impact that we’re making by simply showing up, by buying that ticket.”
As for the theatre industry at large, Valdivia hopes to see more support for Latine and BIPOC artists. “I think that the national discourse around theatre being in crisis can be a bit misleading,” he says. “Yes, it’s true. I also think that another narrative is equally true, but not often talked about—the fact that Latino theatre is growing, that Black theatre is growing, BIPOC theatre is growing. And so, it’s really an opportunity for us to think about what the future of theatre is going to look like.”
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