On October 9, ATA College Prep enjoyed a rare cultural and language immersion opportunity: after having dinner at Chipotle and dessert at Amy’s Ice Cream, all of the current Spanish students went to see Esperanza Rising at the B. Iden Payne Theater on campus at the University of Texas.
The play tells the story of a young, Mexican girl whose family is divided after the Mexican Revolution. Bandits kill her father because he is a wealthy landowner, and she flees the country with two of her family’s loyal servants to live and work in California. Tensions escalate as fellow farm laborers are deported for trying to organize workers’ strikes. To make matters worse, people are flocking to California in droves during the Dustbowl, willing to work for even lower wages. Though the play explores a hard time in Mexican and American history, the story is one of esperanza (“hope”) rising even when things seem impossible.
The performance was bilingual and was accompanied by mariachi music throughout the show. Some of the students on our trip commented that they understood more of the Spanish in the dialogue than they had expected. During the following week, all Spanish classes will focus on the topic of the Mexican Revolution and connect what they learn with what the play portrayed.
The community of ATA College Prep would like to give special thanks to Alejandro Rodriguez’s mom, Clara, for driving a group of students to and from the show, as well as joining us for the play. She was a huge help for everyone on the theater trip, which would not have been possible without her contribution.