World Premiere of ELECTRICO Comes to CASA 0101 Theater

CASA 0101 Theater will present the World Premiere production of Josefina López's latest play, Eléctrico, as part of CASA 0101 Theater's ongoing 25th Anniversary Season.  The play will be directed by Corky Dominguez, produced by Emmanuel Deleage, and stars Robert Moris Castillo and Corina Calderon leading a cast of 12 actors.   

Featured members of the cast will include:  Sonia Aguirre, Casara Clark, Andrew Laughery, Dustin Loomis, Francisco Rivas Medina, Alessandro Mendoza, Jeremiah Ocañas, Ryan Padilla, Sierra Pérez-Gelbman and Timothy Willard.

Eléctrico is the story of a white passing electrician, Raymond Brown, set in the spring of 1910 a few months before the Mexican Revolution began in a small town in Texas, 62 years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, close to the Mexican border.  Brown is caught in a racial struggle between the whites and the Mexicans when he discovers the real reason why the electricity went out.

Josefina López, Playwright of Eléctrico, said:  “As a Mexican-American playwright and screenwriter I feel I have a responsibility to tell the stories of my people, which might not otherwise be told, or worse yet, forgotten or overlooked by history.  After reading the book, The Forgotten Dead written by William D. Carrigan and Clive Webb about the lynching of Mexicans in the southwest, I was compelled to write my play, Eléctrico, a Historic Feminist Western Drama.  My goal in writing this play is to unearth the truth about a part of U.S. history that has been buried and forgotten along with all the dead who are part of this ‘American' story.  I needed to write this play to begin this uncomfortable conversation that needs to be had and understood.”

Eléctrico will be presented on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and on Sundays at 3:00 p.m. for a Four-Week run, October 10 – November 2, 2025 in the Gloria Molina Auditorium at CASA 0101 Theater, 2102 East First Street, Los Angeles, CA  90033.

Corky Dominguez, Director of Eléctrico, said:  “It is my hope that our production of Eléctrico will totally immerse our audience members viscerally, aurally and visually into the storyline playing out on the stage. Although the characters and plotline of the play are fictional, the subject matter which Josefina López's play is based on is 100% true, and actually happened in Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but, for the most part, has been forgotten by history.”

Emmanuel Deleage, Producer of Eléctrico, said:  “CASA 0101 Theater is thrilled to present Josefina López's latest creation a feminist western as the centerpiece of our 25th Anniversary celebration.  It is a story rooted in the past and as relevant today as ever.”

Actors Robert Moris Castillo (of Silver Lake, CA) Raymond Brown, a white electrician, the titular role, and Corina Calderon (of Mission Hills, CA) Adela Borrega, an indigenous Mexican widow, lead a cast of 12 actors.  Featured members of the cast include: Sonia Aguirre (of Whittier, CA) appears as Luz, a Mexican woman; Casara Clark (of North Hollywood, CA) as Darlene Tracy, a white Texan Saloon Girl and as Eliza Brown, Raymond Brown's deceased wife; Andrew Laughery (of Los Angeles, CA) as Gerald Painter, a white Texan male and as Owner of the Imperial Hotel and Saloon; Dustin Loomis (of Carthay Circle, CA) as Sheriff Andrew Stevens, a white Texan male; Francisco Rivas Medina (of Eagle Rock, CA) as Juan Carlos, a Mexican male farmer and as a Corridos Singer playing Guitar; Alessandro Mendoza (of Hollywood, CA) as Justino Borrego, a Tejano Mexican male and as Adela Borrega's husband; Jeremiah Ocañas (of Boyle Heights) as Don Miguel, a Mexican male and as a local Priest and as Understudy for Raymond Brown; Ryan Padilla (of Irvine, CA) as Bernardo Borrego, a Tejano Mexican male cowboy and rancher, Justino Borrego's brother and husband to Maria Teresa Borrego/and as Pablo, a Mexican cowboy; Sierra Pérez-Gelbman (of Studio City, CA) as Maria Teresa Borrego, a Tejana Mexican female, Adela Borrego's sister-in-law, married to Bernardo Borrego, and Timothy Willard (of Hollywood, CA) as Jack Powers, a white Texan male, as a Saloon Bartender and as a local Jail Guard.

The production team for Eléctrico includes:  Josefina López (of the Boyle Heights) Playwright and Lyricist for Corridos Songs, Founding Artistic Director, CASA 0101 Theater; Emmanuel Deleage (of Silver Lake, CA) Producer and Executive Director, CASA 0101 Theater; Edward Padilla (of the Boyle Heights) Casting Director and CASA 0101 Theater Board Member; Corky Dominguez (of Boyle Heights) Director; Angelica Ornelas (of North Hollywood, CA) Stage Manager and Sound Designer; Maia Melendez (of South Los Angeles) Assistant Stage Manager; César Rentana-Holguín (of Northridge, CA) Set Designer; Alejandro Parra (of Burbank, CA) Lighting Designer; Anthony Storniolo (of Los Angeles, CA) Projection Designer; Patricia (Mama J) Tripp (of Northridge, CA) Costume Designer; Doreen Sanchez (of Hollywood, CA) Wardrobe Assistant; Audrey Szot (of Pico Robinson, CA) Prop Manager; Miguel Angel Delgado (of South Gate, CA) CASA 0101 Theater Technical Director; Mark Kraus (of Los Angeles, CA), CASA 0101 Theater Development Director; Itzel Ocampo (of Alhambra, CA) CASA 0101 Theater Marketing and Operations Manager; Gabriela López de Dennis, Soap Studio Inc. (of Los Angeles, CA) Graphic Designer and Program; Jorge Villanueva (of the Boyle Heights) Facilities Manager; Oscar Basulto (of the Boyle Heights) Box Office Manager; Al Aguilar (of Los Angeles, CA) Production Assistant/Foyer Designer; Rudy Torres (of Los Angeles, CA) Production Photographer and Steve Moyer Public Relations (of Los Angeles, CA), Press Representative.

CASA 0101 Theater is supported in part by:  The State of California, Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, National Latinx Theater Initiative, Herb Alpert Foundation, Perenchio Foundation, The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, California Arts Council, U.S. Bank, The Herb Block Foundation and the David Lee Foundation.

Talk Back Sessions will be held after 3:00 p.m. Sunday Matinee performances of Eléctrico on October 12 and 26, 2025 for ticket buyers.  The first Talk Back Session Q&A to be held on Sunday, October 12th will be led by playwright Josefina López in conversation with Dr. Stewart Davenport, a Professor of History at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA about the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  The second Talk Back Session Q&A to be held on Sunday, October 26th will be moderated by director Corky Dominguez; panelists and further information will soon be announced.

After growing up in Birmingham, AL, Stewart Davenport went on to receive his Ph.D. in History from Yale in 2001.  He is currently Professor of History at Pepperdine University, teaching courses in American History from the Revolutionary era through the Civil War, approximately 1750-1880.  In his scholarship, he likes to pick topics that are ethically pressing in the present, but whose originals are deep in the past and thus open to historical exploration.

Dr. Davenport's first book, Friends of the Unrighteous Mammon:  Northern Christians and Market Capitalism, 1815-1860 (University of Chicago Press, 2008) explores the tensions between capitalism and the values of America's Christian culture in which it flourished.  His second book, Sex and Sects:  The Story of Mormon Polygamy, Shaker Celibacy, and Oneida Complex Marriage (2022, UVA Press), was inspired by the gay marriage debate in the early 2000s and recently won the Communal Studies Association's Timothy Miller Outstanding Book Award.  He and his wife Mary, and children, Shiloh and Archer, live in South Pasadena, CA.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which was signed on February 2, 1848, formally ended the Mexican-American War, resulting in Mexico ceding over half its territory, or about 525,000 square miles, to the United States in exchange for a $15 million payment and the assumption of $3.25 million in debts owed to U.S. citizens.  This massive land acquisition included present-day California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, most Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.  The Treaty established the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico, altering the lives of Mexicans in the annexed territories and contributing to the divisive political debate over the expansion of slavery in the United States, which ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.