Students whose parents migrated to the U.S. can now tell their stories in a play that is being developed for the spring semester by art department chair Robin Huber.
The working title for the play is “Getting Here” and it will feature a cast that will tell the story of parents or students who immigrated to the U.S. in a unique way.
Auditions for the play will be held in January and the play will open in March. Students can submit story ideas for the upcoming play by visiting www.cerritos.edu/theatre and clicking under the “Getting There” Project.
Huber said that the criteria for submitting the story are:
- The story must be first-hand and the story must be true
- They must be written in first person and the story can be recorded or written
- There is the option of the story being anonymous with consideration of an immigrant’s legal status in the U.S.
Huber explained that the reason why he wanted to feature the issue of immigration is because it has been discussed lately in the news media.
“There are stereotypes as far as immigration is concerned,” Huber said, “and I want to show that these people are real.”
He added that people don’t only immigrate from Mexico, but from other countries as well, and so far there have been responses submitted from faculty but hopes that there will be more stories submitted by students as the opening day approaches.
Students said that they were unaware that a play was being developed, but added that they were open to the idea of seeing the play.
Michael Zuluzta, psychology major, said that his parents are from China and he said that he was interested in seeing the play because it was important “to see these stories from another person’s point of view.”
He also said he hopes that by viewing the play that he and others will come away with open minds toward the immigration issue.
Mayra Flores, art major, said that the play itself seems interesting but if she was going to submit the story about her parents who immigrated from Guatemala, she admitted that their story isn’t that interesting because her parents didn’t have to struggle to migrate.
She stated that her parents immigrated to the U.S. after her grandfather was transferred from his job to California.
