SEEDS OF RESISTANCE: Student-Written Social Justice Plays To Be Performed At Roosevelt High School

About…Productions and the Math, Science, and Technology Magnet Academy at Roosevelt High School will present SEEDS OF RESISTANCE, a theater production featuring three original short plays written and performed by educationally underrepresented students in grades 9–12 participating in About…Productions’ Young Theaterworks Social Justice Residency at MSTMA.

The performances will take place at the Roosevelt High School Performing Arts Center in Boyle Heights, with two public showings scheduled on Friday, February 13, 2026.

This annual project centers on student-led interviews with community leaders whose lives and work inform the plays. This year’s student collaborators interviewed Odilia Romero, a Zapotec Indigenous rights organizer and co-founder and executive director of Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo; Martha Gonzalez, a Chicana scholar, artivist, and lead singer of the Grammy Award–winning band Quetzal; and Moctesuma Esparza, an award-winning film producer and longtime community activist. Each leader’s personal history and social justice work served as the foundation for the student-written pieces.

Producing Artistic Director Theresa Chavez said the residency connects students with community history while encouraging civic engagement, resulting in three short plays now being shared with a live audience. Lead Teaching Artist and Young Theaterworks Program Manager Marlene Beltran described the residency as an intergenerational process that honors community legacies while creating space for Eastside youth to envision their own futures.