Culture Clash’s Water & Power
Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles

The Mark Taper has many memories for me. As an undergrad college of arts student I received a grant of season tickets one year. I saw some fabulous performances that still haunt me, such as Anne Bancroft and Jayne Alexander in the Rose Bouquet. The theater itself is really beautiful on the outside (as my partner Jim remarked, “it looks like a cake.”) and a beautifully intimate space to see live theater. You can see the performers sweat and spit. Personally, I like my theater that way. The Taper usually puts on excellent new work and last night was no exception with Water & Power by Culture Clash. This is the story of twin brothers- good and bad, yin and yang, two sides of the same coin. Sounds simple? It’s not. You could boil it down very simply but you’d be missing a few things. The story of the brothers- nicknamed Water and Power by their father who worked for the Department of Water and Power while they grew up- examines relationships and dynamics in a Chicano/Los Angeles family and how the elements of male culture play out in the greater Los Angeles world of politics. I say male because there are no women in the play at all and very little references to them. One brother, Power, is a police officer. The other, Water, is a politician. Through them the play scrutinizes the duality of the relationship between brothers- their fierce loyalty and fiery competitiveness. This duality can also be applied the nature of the greater culture of Latinos in Los Angeles. At the end I was left pondering the hows and whys of conflict in Latino male culture, the sometimes competitive nature of the myriad of Latino ethnic groups in Los Angeles, and why we are still leaving women out of the story.

It is unclear how well this play would be received in other cities by the general population (or even by Latinos who live elsewhere), as it is rife with many local cultural references. This made the characters extremely close to my heart almost immediately; they have walked the same streets as I. But I wonder if people who have not lived in Los Angeles would get some of it? And does that really matter? The local flavor does not make the story any less powerful. I thoroughly enjoyed it- but I do have to question the lack of women in it. Part of me wants to understand that they were examining the male, the male Latino, the patriarchal nature of our American culture.The other part of is still left asking, where are the women and how do they fit in the cultural puzzle presented by the play?

I have to make a comment also about the lighting design. It was so perfect and appropriate, acting as part of the set. You’ll just have to see it to understand. The sparse set was appropriate too. All the actors were also excellent, but I understand this is par for the course for Culture Clash. You’ll have your own ideas and questions if you see it, and I highly recommend you do.

Mental Menudo Blog

Last evening I trekked from my job as a community arts center coordinator in the Pomona Arts Colony to beautiful, untame Eagle rock. Arriving at another community center, the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, barely on time I made my way up the many steps to the beautiful 1914 Arts & Crafts Spanish style building. For those of you who have not been there before, I strongly encourage you to visit. Not only is the building beautiful, their programs are vital and they have live music for excellent prices and host many other cultural events. That evening I attended the Mental Menudo meeting hosted by artist and trickster Magu. Part artist, part crazy hermit (always has a twinkle of mischief in his eye), Magu is the founding member of Los Four- among some of the first Los Angeles Latino artists who proudly claimed their heritage, calling themselves "Chicano". It goes without saying they incorporated their culture in every aspect of their art and created opportunities for themselves and other Raza to be taken seriously by the "art establishment" or as some people simply put it, "tha MAN". Since those days Magu (also known as Gilbert Lujan) has been conducting these dialogues. Created with, for and by artists, Magu's goal is to create a space where artists can exchange ideas, discuss issues and generally connect with their peers. These talks have continued for many decades and attendees have included some heavy hitters in the Los Angeles art world. The Menudos are inclusive and all peoples are welcome- which explains why this Puerto Rican gave up some of her Friday night to hang with other Raza and (it goes without saying), non-Raza alike for the meeting.

Magu invited four guest speakers last night to discuss the topic of art and activism. From the Save Our Centro group came artist Pocha Peña and writer Victor Payan. Both involved in the struggle to restore San Diego’s Centro Cultural de la Raza to the local community, they talked about the problems which the Centro had, the lock out of the community and the subsequent boycott. Artist Gregg Stone spoke a bit about his art, which is inspired by what he calls Mexican Realism- he photographs and paints scenes in and around Tijuana, Mexico and California (to name a few), that display the reality of life for the poor and disenfranchised. In particular he talked about a recent exhibit he put together at OCCCA, where he invited artists to submit work created on Jim Gilcrest campaign posters. While Stone’s own art holds no punches, his pictures are not angry nor in your face. His subject matter is matter of fact- and his craftsmanship is amazing. The group show he curated at OCCCA was excellent as a protest piece and the work was extremely creative. The last guest speaker was a supporter and activist involved with the South Central Farm. The woman, whose name I did not catch and my research has not uncovered thus far, was articulate and explained the history of the South Central Farm and it’s present struggle very succinctly.

Many questions and statements came from the attendees, but the topic kept coming back to what to do about places like Centro de la Raza, Self Help Graphics and the South Central Farm, that have had their very own hearts and souls shunted aside when their communities were locked out. It was a very interesting discussion. The theme that I saw reoccurring is that there is still a real disconnect between American minorities, or ethnic peoples, and the larger political/corporate systems in America. Our country experienced the tacit acceptance of racism (and the violence and murder which accompanied it) up until the Civil Rights era. It goes without saying that America still experiences incidents of racism and violence. And while it is not now acceptable to be an outward racist or misogynist- the issue of structural violence still remains. Structural violence is defined (by Johan Galtung, Wikipedia) as, “…a form of violence which corresponds with the systematic ways in which a given social structure or social institution prevents individuals from achieving their full potential.” The systems we put in place- institutions, organizations, corporations, government entities, etc., have rules, procedures and by-laws that are put into place to help keep us safe and equalize access to services, jobs and products. In theory, these are important and when the systems are well thought out, transparent and have checks and balances, they work well. However, when a small number of people are writing the rules of the systems, hiring inexperienced cronies to management positions, and locking out the stakeholders from the decision making processes, then the systems fail. More than just fail- they become a reason for the alienation, disillusionment and withdrawal of the minority people in American society.

When the question of what to do about such problems was put to Ms. Peña, her answer was simple: beat them at their own game with their own rules. In essence: use the law as your sword, the pen as your shield. In many cases these institutions, organizations, etc., have broken laws and their own by-laws to achieve the disenfranchisement they began. All of the organizations named above are being sued for one thing or another- because there are grounds to do so. I say to use the pen as your shield- because getting the word out about what occurred is so important in the courtroom of public opinion. When the public knows what happened and weighs in, pressure comes to the few in power and change occurs. Documenting the events that transpired is also key. Documentation is the stuff of history, and history teaches lessons (well, okay sometimes) and rights wrongs. Transparency is vital for any institution to be truly responsive and responsible. I think that transparency is a radical idea to some- but it has to happen if we are really going to make these organizations- and our democracy- work. Transparency of how the system works, to how much money is made and how it is spent. I could go on a whole tirade about how fear fuels all of this- but I won’t. I’ll leave the why’s to others; I just know that transparency is the attainable goal we must strive to achieve if we want to make our institutions and country work.

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