SHE SE PUEDE (A CHORUS OF HUERTAS) World Premiere to Open at Oakland Theater Project

Oakland Theater Project will present the world premiere of a new work inspired by the life of labor leader and activist Dolores Huerta, written by OTP Co-Artistic Director Lisa Ramirez and directed by Karina Gutiérrez. SHE SE PUEDE (a chorus of Huertas), will be performed at Oakland Theater Project's current home at the former FLAX art & design building in Oakland, from November 20 to December 6.

In Ramirez's lyrical new work, the poetic and the political combine, and Huerta's famous call, 'Sí, se puede' becomes SHE SE PUEDE — a theatrical poem for multiple voices. Six performers — Tatiana Hernandez, April Ballesteros, Carla Gallardo, Linda Maria Girón, Michelle Navarrette, and Wilma Bonet — embody the chorus, who convey the spirit Huerta's life and work in a rhythm that comes from the field, from a tempo of planting and picking, in which voices overlap, break apart, join together, echo across acres and years.

This theatrical tribute explores how the politics start long before the picket lines — in the girl Huerta was, in how she moved, how she spoke up, and what she imagined for herself.

The play also faces the hard reckonings of now, from the allegations against Cesar Chavez to the fear that ICE has brought back into the fields.

In a time when Huerta's perseverance, collective vision, and radical hope remain urgently necessary — the work examines freedom not as a gift, but as something organized, demanded, and won.

Here, the fight for dignity is the fight for freedom, carried forward by those who refuse silence.

'I give her six bodies because no single actor can hold a life that long and that complex,' said playwright Lisa Ramirez. 'I want the audience to see that Huerta isn't only one woman. She's anyone who knocks on the door, fights for human rights, tells the truth late, and rises again. Her work isn't finished, and neither is ours.'

'SHE SE PUEDE both is and is not a story about Dolores,' said Director Karina Gutiérrez. 'It is not an ode, but a challenge: a strongly worded invitation to contend with the history we were taught and the stories we tell ourselves to survive, particularly at a time when Latiné/x communities are under attack.'

'Lisa's poetry demands the difficult but necessary work of self-reflection,' continued Gutiérrez. 'Each scene feels like an act of piecing together torn fabric, asking us to gather the delicate, often contradictory fragments of our collective memory: the stories about a movement we believe to be true, the stories we desperately want to be true, and the stains now coming to light. This play asks us to confront the consequences of pinning our hopes and dreams on heroes, and to reckon with what remains when the people we have elevated can no longer bear the weight of them.'

TICKETS & PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

World Premiere
SHE SE PUEDE (a chorus of Huertas)
by Lisa Ramirez
directed by Karina Gutiérrez

TOUR DATES

• Nov 20–Dec 6
• Previews: Friday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m.
• Previews: Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m.
• Opening: Sunday, November 22 at 7:30 p.m.
• Performances: Thu, Fri, Sat through December 6 at 7:30 p.m.
• Performances: Sunday, Nov 29 and December 6 at 2 p.m.

Run Time: 90 minutes (no intermission)

Tickets are available for $10—70 at oaklandtheaterproject.org/she or by calling 510-646-1126.

ABOUT OTP'S 2026 SEASON: THE LAND OF THE FREE

SHE SE PUEDE is the seventh and final production in Oakland Theater Project's 2026 Season: The Land of The Free, featuring a year of new productions that examine a foundational tenet of America.

What does it mean to live in 'the land of the free' at a time when democratic rights are shrinking and authoritarian power is rising? As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, Oakland Theater Project's 2026 Season explores the tension between celebration and crisis.

Freedom, once imagined as a birthright, now feels like a responsibility—and sometimes a loss. Inspired by Timothy Snyder's On Freedom, this season's productions examine who holds freedom in America, who is denied it, and what it takes to protect it.

In a year built for commemoration, we choose interrogation.

Freedom is not fixed. It must be practiced, challenged, and defended.

We invite audiences to look honestly at where we stand—and to imagine what freedom could still become.

ABOUT OAKLAND THEATER PROJECT

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