Arizona Theatre Company Adds Widely Acclaimed LA ESQUINITA, USA to 50th Anniversary Season

Due to artist scheduling conflicts, Arizona Theatre Company has added acclaimed actor/playwright Rubén C. González' one-man tour de force La Esquinita, USA to the 2016-17 50th anniversary season and rescheduled Marisela Treviño Orta's The River Bride to 2017-18. La Esquinita, USA will run in Tucson from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4, 2017 and in Phoenix from Feb. 2-26, the same dates as the postponed The River Bride.

"While we were supremely eager to bring the gorgeous Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Marisela Treviño Orta's The River Bride, directed by Laurie Woolery, to Arizona, conflicts developed with key artists in the scheduled time frame," said ATC Artistic Director David Ira Goldstein in announcing the schedule change. "But we're thrilled to add Rubén C. González' widely acclaimed fictional tale of real people leading real lives in a now-forgotten town. It tells a story and raises issues that are intensely pertinent to our lives and culture here in the Southwest."

In La Esquinita, USA, at a bus stop on the 40A Red Line, in language at once poetic and irreverent, ten characters tell us their stories on a passage through a once-booming town now forgotten. The main source of employment, Thompson Tire Factory, has gone overseas leaving the town's infrastructure in disarray.

Told by the wise, omniscient custodian, Lencho, and experienced through the eyes of 18-year-old Daniel, La Esquinita, USA spins the various tales of real people living real lives - including Skinny Black, Sunshine, Tweeker and Animal - seeking identity, connection and peace. Much like John Leguizamo, Anna Deveare Smith or Danny Hoch from the famed El Teatro Campesino, comes a virtuoso performance of a gorgeous, brave story of love, forgiveness and ultimate redemption.

Alexandra Bonifield, writing in TheaterJones, described La Esquinita, USA as "transcendent, exhilarating in its simplicity, yet full of emotional depth."

Please note that La Esquinita, USA contains mature language and subject matter.

Season-ticket holders can use their The River Bride tickets for La Esquinita, USA since all performance times are the same as originally scheduled. Build-Your-Own Subscription tickets and Flex Pass tickets can be used for La Esquinita, USA or exchanged for another production by visiting or calling the box office at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix.

For more information, visit www.arizonatheatre.org.

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