Latino Theater Company to Continue IMPACT With AUGUST 29
Performances will run from August 15-September 19.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 14, 2025
Latino Theater Company, is continuing its collaboration with local community colleges as part of its “IMPACT” community engagement initiative, joining forces with Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy to present August 29, named for the date in 1970 when Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar was killed while covering a large Chicano-led anti-war demonstration in East L.A. Ramiro Segovia directs students from the academy in six Pay-What-You-Choose performances at The Los Angeles Theatre Center, August 15 through August 24.
A showing of the short film Requiem 29, presenting footage of the Chicano Moratorium Against the War in Vietnam including the brutal police response and the funeral and inquest into the death of Salazar, will screen prior to each performance. Following performances at The LATC, the production will travel to East Los Angeles College for a free 55th anniversary performance on Friday, August 29, presented in collaboration with the 50th Anniversary Chicano Moratorium Committee; and to Mt. San Antonio College for two free performances on September 18 and 19.
In August 29, originally created in 1990 by members of the Latino Theater Company (then known as the Latino Theater Lab), a university professor relives those late 1960s, early 1970s movement days while writing a book on the life of Salazar, who comes to life to help her recall the past and to challenge her to renew her activism.
The large cast, made up of students from the LACC Theatre Academy, includes Jayson Abrego, Andy Balcazar, Lawrence Bonilla, Alex Bravo, Donny Dahlman, Michelle Fernandez, Sebastian Garcia, Anthony “Tony” Gonzalez, Arturo Hernández, Juan Herrera, Felipe Iglecias, Rhyan Kirsch, Manuel Marin, Melody Martinez, Javier “Javi” Matos, Sergio Mota, Massimo Ortolano, Nicole Perez, Ciclady Rodriguez and Melody Zamora.
The creative team includes music director Israel Bravo; scenic and projection designer Maureen E. Weiss and associate scenic and projection designer Veronica Avalos; lighting designer John A. Garofalo; sound designer Ramiro Hermosillo, mentored by Rebecca Kessin; costume designers Madeline Campbell, Sophia Clark and Emily Volz, mentored by costume supervisors Gene Barnhart and Claire Fraser Walsh, working alongside wardrobe supervisor Esmeralda Juarez and costume shop manager Kim Gomez; prop master Jasmin Orta; and scenic charge artist Lou Hartmann. The assistant director is Manuel Marin, and the production stage manager is Tim Christian.
Requiem 29 was shot by UCLA students in the Ethno-Communications Program including David Garcia and Moctesuma Esparza. It began as a class project, but what emerged was a striking document of injustice and resistance. Now preserved in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the documentary blends footage from the march and Salazar’s wake with interviews and powerful courtroom testimony.
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