ESPERANZA to Make Premiere at National Hispanic Cultural Center with Teatro Paraguas

Teatro Paraguas will present the premiere production of Esperanza, a play with music based on the iconic film Salt of the Earth.  Written by Carlos Morton in conjunction with Teatro Paraguas, Esperanza retells the incredible story of the 1951 strike by the Mexican-American miners and their wives against the Empire Zinc mine in Bayard, new Mexico.  The 15-month strike by Local 890 of the International Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Union was the first successful mine strike in U.S. history. When the mining company invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to make it illegal for the miners to strike, their wives and mothers took over the picket line.

Esperanza is a searing indictment of prejudice and oppression, but also a celebration of community and social justice as the miners and their wives struggle for respect and a better life.

The movie Salt of the Earth was produced in 1954, written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. 1954 was the height of the McCarthy Era, and Wilson, Biberman, and Jarrico were all three blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics. Salt of the Earth was produced under incredibly difficult conditions. Rosaura Revueltas, a famous Mexican actor who starred as  Esperanza -- the pregnant wife of one of the chief miners -- was deported during the filming. The company was harassed while shooting scenes, and the set was vandalized. No Film Lab would process the film. No union crew would work for the film, nor Hollywood actors. The men and women of the mining community played the characters in the film. Salt of the Earth was one of the first fully independent films made outside the Hollywood studio system.

Esperanza is directed by Paola Vengoechea and Elsa López, and stars Dalia Melendez as Esperanza and Joaquin Rodriguez as her husband and union leader Ramon. Original music and songs in the play were written by Luis Moreno and Tony Ybarra.  Jonathan Harrell is the music director for the production.

Carlos Morton is the author of The Many Deaths of Danny Rosales and Other Plays, Johnny Tenorio and Other Plays, The Fickle Finger of Lady Death, Rancho Hollywood y otras obras del teatro chicano, and Dreaming on a Sunday in the Alameda. A former Mina Shaughnessy Scholar and Fulbright Lecturer to Mexico and Poland, Morton holds an M.F.A. in Drama from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from the University of Texas at Austin. Morton has lived on the border between Mexico and the United States since 1981, teaching at universities in Texas, California and Mexico. He is currently Professor of Theater at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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