Canto CCCLXXV: Sara Guerrero, OC Theater Extraordinaría

Gentle cabrones:

Those of ustedes who subscribed to my newsletter all through 2024 know that it was My Theater Year.

I appeared in one play, was dramaturg for another, attended three others, and engaged in the theater world in a way I hadn’t ever…and I LOVED it.

And all along the way was Sara Guerrero.

She’s the artistic director and co-founder of Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, the only Latina-run theater company in Orange County and one of the precious few in the United States. A friend, a friend (and cousin!) to many of my friends, and a regular at my honey’s market along with her family. More importantly, Sara has served as the August Wilson of OC, stitching together a series of works — The Mexican OC, Canto de Anaheim, the one last year encouraging people to write corridos about la naranja that I participated in and subsequently flubbed my lines in one performance then sang in a higher octave in another because of my nerves — that has brilliantly depicted an Orange County that never gets shown on the stages locally, let alone get any attention elsewhere.

Most importantly: Sara’s roots are in two of the coolest places on Earth, Jerez and El Paso — BOOM.

OK, maybe only important to me.

I’ve wanted to do a Random Cool People I Know about Sara for a while, but there’s a news peg to this one: Breath of Fire’s annual fundraiser is Feb. 22, from 4 p.m to 8 p.m. (or maybe later depending on how much people get faaaaaded) at Alta Baja Market in SanTana. Buy your tickets here — I might offer some comments, but I’ll definitely be donating because theater is so important, Breath of Fire is an essential O.C. treasure, and Sara is as real as they get.

How real?

She walked through a heavy mist Friday morning toward Grand Central Arts Center, where Breath of Fire has its space, with her umbrella in hand but not deployed because she was in a hurry to meet me and and lugging a bunch of bags. “Every morning, I check with my treasurers to see what they need from me,” Sara said, apologizing for being late.

What do they need?

“Money.”

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Sara is 49, with an expressive face and even-keeled, powerful voice honed from a lifetime of theater — directing, writing, acting, producing. She tends to speak in long anecdotes inevitably peppered with a great, staccato laugh. I met her nearly 20 years ago, when Breath of Fire received a grant via El Centro Cultural de México, the influential community group that has launched the careers of professors, activists, organizers, politicians, teachers — and me.

Breath of Fire had its own black box theater for a few years, went on a “unofficial official hiatus” after that, as Sara puts it, while she started a family, and has occupied a basement space at Grand Central Arts Center in downtown SanTana since 2016, when John Spiak — who runs it for Cal State Fullerton — asked Sara if Breath of Fire wanted a residency there.

“That was life changing,'“ Sara said, turning on an ancient air conditioning system as we entered their space “because it’s going to get stuffy.”

It’s about the size of a large living room. Props were strewn around — two bags of soccer balls. Poster boards with prompts. Simple print outs taped to one wall of the main players with their photos, a phalanx of musical stands. Above the snack table were unframed posters of previous Breath of Fire stagings. Next to it was a box for anyone willing to donate some spare change or bills.

Right now, Sara is in rehearsals at Cal State Fullerton — where she lectures — to stage a reimagining of Jose Casas’ Waiting for Godot called Sometimes, I Wish, about kids who live on L.A.’s Skid Row and which was birthed through BoF.

“Producing plays on your own is so hard, and it’s going to get so difficult,” Sara said, as we sat across each other at a plastic folding table. “People have rejected what the civil rights movement fought for, and vilified DEI. It makes it difficult, but you can’t give up. Look, sometimes I want to scream and say, ‘I want to give up.’

She recently had a chat about the hard times coming for arts organizations with Elvia Susana Rubalcava, a friend whom I went to Chapman with, who helped Breath of Fire through its unofficial official hiatus and is now director of the Fullerton Museum Center when she’s not a playwright and filmmaker (Random Cool People I Know Forthcoming about her this year, insha’Allah). “Elvia went on a good rant about why we all must continue to fight and I said, ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ and that was just so invigorating.”

The two of them graduated from Century High in SanTana, where Sara was on the cheer squad with my ex (she’s now one of Breath of Fire’s treasurers. And to complete the circle of people I know who’s involved with Breath of Fire: Adriana Alba Sánchez went to Chapman with Elvia and I, and I need to go speak to her students at Los Amigos High, where she teaches). Sara went on to Cal Arts, pursuing a love of theater she got from attending plays at South Coast Rep with her mom. She worked in L.A.’s theater world for a few years, but remembers going to a Latina businesswomen’s luncheon at the Delhi Center in SanTana around 2003 or so that brought her back home.

The keynote was La Habra councilmember Rosie Espinoza, who back then was one of the first Latinas elected to public office and is now one of OC’s longest-serving electeds.

“She said that the reason her life ended up the way it did is because she saw a need and did something about it,” Sara told me. “And I talked to all these other women there [at the luncheon]. Yeah, they got into their careers to make money and take care of their families and themselves, but they also did it because they saw something missing. And I thought, ‘This is where I grew up, there is no theater that speaks to my community — this is my need.

“My theater family in LA are my cousins,” she continued. “I love spending time with them, like how I hang out with my family cousins for carne asada or menudo. But I was always the cousin we all talk shit on, the one from Newport Beach.”

She laughed her great laugh. She’s never lived in Zooport.

“They had no idea what SanTana was about. Well, they’ve gotten to see another side of OC with what Breath of Fire has done.”

We talked about some of their hits. The Mexican OC, which drew from oral histories to tell the stories of everyone from Modesta Avila to the kids walking out of school in 2006 to protest the Sensenbrenner bill and received a second staging at Chapman. Nine Digits from a Dream, about the plight of undocumented youth — that traveled across the state. Time spent at PWIs — predominantly white institutions — during Breath of Fire’s unofficial official hiatus.

In 2015, Breath of Fire officially reemerged with writing workshops held across SanTana, including in the backyard of mine and my honey’s house. “Not one person said no to us,” Sara said. “We did it with no money, no space, but people gave when we asked.”

She remembered what her grandmother had long preached: It’s good to be right, but it’s better to be kind. Sara’s grandparents were involved with The Mayans, a SanTana civic group that gave out scholarships and grants to high school students (Sara won one — “Of course I had to apply”).

“It wasn’t a huge scholarship, but it was very important to me and everyone who got one,” Sara said. “I loved how my grandma would say, ‘It’s always great to have kindness surround you and return to you’. And what else would she say?”

Sara tried to mouth out a memory. “Do… not…surround…yourself…with pendejos!”

Another big laugh.

In recent years, Breath of Fire has doubled down on being an incubator, with free writing workshops and acting classes for anyone interested. “There’s not a lot of spaces for people to do that,” she said. “Getting them tell their stories, seeing the magic of storytelling in others really infuses me. We have employees to be able to do this, and we NEVER had employees.”

That grant ends in October.

We went up to Spiak’s office. I asked what he liked about what Breath of Fire had brought to SanTana.

“She brought it before I was in town, even,” he replied. “She brings a sense of community and connection through theater arts that no one else is bringing.”

I’ve known John for years as well, so I decided to ask a silly question, because silly questions asked to people you know can sometimes bring out illuminating answers:

Was Breath of Fire a good tenant?

“Fantastic tenant, are you kidding?” John said with a laugh, shaking his head at my silly question. “They wouldn’t still be here if they weren’t!

Then he became more thoughtful.

“The reason we brought them in in the first place is we thought, ‘Who’s a great nonprofit that doesn’t have a home?’ They were the ideal match. What they bring is so important and essential, and we’re lucky they’re here.

He then looked at Sara.

“Sara would be in [Grand Central’s] theater space if she wanted the theater space,” as she nodded her head no.

“I’m managing it in other ways,” Sara replied with a smile. No laugh was necessary this time.

Meet Sara and the rest of the Breath of Fire banda Feb. 22. I’ll be behind the cash register while my honey pours wines, micheladas and spirits. If you can’t go to the fundraiser, you can still donate to Breath of Fire here. And do donate!

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: The last part of the Charlie Brown donut I was about to eat, a gift of DianeandDavidG, one of the enforcers of the Guti Gang. Gracias to all the people who wished me a happy birthday and went to Alta Baja to celebrate my un-birthday — let’s make it an annual tradition!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may” — Simeon Newman

LISTENING: “California Stars,” Billy Bragg & Wilco. Fucking Art was a hipster before all of you. How do I know? He was playing Wilco when we still harbored dreams of Hollywood at Orange Coast College, so I’ve been hearing this haunting, echoing song from the start. Why didn’t my best friend tell me that it’s from an album by the group and the British singer that put music to unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics? Fucking Art.

READING: “On horseback to fish for shrimp: Preserving one of Belgium’s oldest traditions”: El País, Spain’s paper of record, started an American edition in earnest last year, and I always love to see their correspondents’ take on our desmadre (I’ve been quoted before) But they also offer great dispatches from around the world, albeit written in a florid tone that works better in Spanish than English (compare that to the late, great English-language version of Der Spiegel, where the tone was always terse). Worth the free newsletter.

BUY MY NEW CO-BOOK! People’s Guide to Orange County tells an alternative history of OC through the scholarship and reporting of myself, Elaine Lewinnek, and Thuy Vo Dang. There’ll be signings all year — in meanwhile, buy your copy TODAY. And, yes: I’ll autograph it!

Gustavo Events  

Feb. 22, 11 a.m.: I get to moderate a panel on immigration with two Macarthur genius winners (la profe comadre Natalia Molina and Jason de León) and one of the best magazine writers EVER about L.A. (Jesse Katz) for the Culver City Book Festival at the Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City. Event is FREE.

Feb. 23, noon: I will be the grand marshal at the reenactment of the signing of the Articles of Capitulation — the formal agreement that ended the Mexican-American War in California — at the Campo de Cahuenga Historical Site, 3919 Lankershim Blvd. Studio City. What does that mean? I get to give a short speech! Come see this important part of California history for FREE.

March 8, 1 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with artist Alicia Rojas about her new project, “Poderosas,” which is part oral history, part sculpture and part photo book about the women who help Latino Health Access save lives. Will be at the 18th Street Arts Center, 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica. Event is FREE.

March 13, 7 p.m.: I’m going to moderate a panel for “What Alliances Do We Need in Perilous Times?” on how groups are uniting to rebuild after the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be held by Zócal Public Square at ASU California Center Broadway 1111 S. Broadway Los Angeles. Event is FREE, but you gotta RSVP.

Gustavo in the News

“Mexican flag-waving protesters are turning everyone against them”: An Arizona Republic columnist writes a weak-salsa column about a columna of mine while calling me “well-meaning” but doesn’t have the stones to name me.

“L.A.’s week of pro-immigration protests”: A Los Angeles Times newsletter you should subscribe to plugs a columna of mine.

“LA Times Writer Celebrates Mexican Flags at Pro-Migration Street Protests”: Breitbart whines about a columna of mine. Breitbart’s still around?

“Passport 2 History”: This cool monthly newsletter gathers all the happenings at historic sites across Southern California — hence, they plug my appearance at Campo de Cahuenga later this month.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“‘A Day Without Immigrants’ protests shake up OC and LA”: My latest KCRW “Orange County Line” commentary talks about all the rallies by high schoolers and others.

“Why wave the flag of another country at protests?”: I appear on Annenberg Radio Storiers to talk about a columna of mine.

"KTLA Evening News at 7”: I appear on Channel 5 to talk about a columna of mine.

“And the Winner of KCRW and Gustavo's 2024 Great Tortilla Tournament Is...”: My latest Substack (do NOT subscribe to it — it’s a place for me to write random things a few times a year) shows the #tortillatournament finale between corn finalist Chabelita’s and flour finalist Heritage Barbecue. KEY QUOTE: “But damnit, it’s time to reveal our #TortillaTournament winner — because this hell year that’s already 2025 needs some good news…and what’s better news than great tortillas?”

“Behold Our 2024 KCRW and Gustavo’s Great Tortilla Tournament Winner!”: Just like the title says — CONGRATS, Chabelita’s in Pacoima! KEY QUOTE: ““Wow!” Santos exclaimed, the victory finally sinking in for him. Inside, one of his workers cheered.”

“Why waving the Mexican flag at immigration rallies isn’t wrong”: My latest L.A. Times columna talks about THE issue too many people are focusing on right now. KEY QUOTE: “Waving a foreign flag at protests is good trouble — a sign for the brave to rally together and stand tall against a commander in chief who understands nothing but chaos.”

“Vandalize an Italian American museum during an immigration protest? Bad move”: My next latest L.A. Times columna talks about some unfortunate graffiti left at a historical building(s) in downtown L.A. KEY QUOTE: “Defacing a shrine to immigrants of the past while fighting for the immigrants of today — it was a sad irony I wanted to discuss with the museum’s executive director and co-founder, Marianna Gatto.”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!