Culture Clash’s Bordertown Now Culture Clash’s Bordertown Now

Culture Clash’s Bordertown Now  | 

May 30 — June 24
Twenty years after their searing hit Bordertown premiered, LA’s very own Culture Clash returns to the southern border to investigate the state of affairs once again. Re-imagined, remixed and fully reloaded, Bordertown Now is an irreverent look at the people at the center of one of America’s most hot-button controversial issues, and the walls that divide us all. Infused with their trademark comedic approach, the nation’s premier Chicano/Latino performance trio joins Obie Award-winning artist and director Diane Rodriguez to redefine the boundaries of theater and break down the divisions between cultures.

“The Marx Brothers meet the Rolling Stones.”

-American Theatre Magazine

By Culture Clash: Ric Salinas & Herbert Sigüenza with new material by Richard Montoya

Directed by Diane Rodriguez

Tickets: $25+

 

Twenty years after their searing hit Bordertown premiered, LA’s very own Culture Clash returns to the southern border to investigate the state of affairs once again. Re-imagined, remixed and fully reloaded, Bordertown Now is an irreverent look at the people at the center of one of America’s most hot-button controversial issues, and the walls that divide us all. Infused with their trademark comedic approach, the nation’s premier Chicano/Latino performance trio joins Obie Award-winning artist and director Diane Rodriguez to redefine the boundaries of theater and break down the divisions between cultures.

“The Marx Brothers meet the Rolling Stones.”

-American Theatre Magazine
Loading Events

October

  • No matching events listed under Bordertown Now. Please try viewing the full calendar for a complete list of events.

Calendar Month Navigation

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
+ Export Events

Playhouse Talks

Engage in lively dialogue with renowned experts and community leaders after every performance of Bordertown Now

WEDNESDAY MAY 30 | 8:00 P.M.
USC Sol Price School of Public Policy
Professor Roberto Suro – Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the School of Policy
Professor Zach Steel – USC School of Dramatic Arts

 

Thursday May 31 | 8:00 P.M.
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
Buiza Cynthia – Executive Director
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Jonathan Barrales, Program Coordinator
Lisa Okamoto, Managing Attorney

 

Friday June 1 | 8:00 P.M.
The US Lifestyle Group
Rafael Agustín – Writer on The CW Show, Jane the Virgin
Julissa Arce – Political commentator, speaker, writer and best-selling author of My (Underground) American Dream
Bambadjan “Bamba” Bamba – Actor and Filmmaker
Uriel Saenz – CEO, The US Lifestyle Group

 

Saturday June 2 | 2:00 P.M.
89.3 – Southern California Public Radio
Oscar Garza – Senior Producer, The Frame
Leslie Berestein-Rojas – Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter
Richard Montoya – Culture Clash

 

Saturday June 2 | 8:00 P.M.
Pasadena Museum of California Art
Susana Bautista – Executive Director
Ana Serrano – Artist

 

WEDNESDAY JUNE 6 | 8:00 P.M.
Luis J. Rodriguez – American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist

 

Thursday June 7 | 8:00 P.M.
Alhambra Latino Association
Tammy Scorcia – Alhambra Teachers Association President
Javier Gutierrez – Alhambra High School Teacher
Adele Andrade-Stadler – Alhambra Board of Education

 

FRIDAY JUNE 8 | 8:00 P.M.
All Saints Episcopal Church
Mike Kinman – Rector

 

SUNDAY JUNE 10 | 2:00 P.M.
University of California, Los Angeles
Kelly Lytle Hernandez – Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Associate Director of the Chicano Studies Research Center

 

Sunday June 10 | 7:00 P.M.
Dream Team LA
Jose Jaspeodo – Steering Committee Lead
Betty Jaspeado – Community Education, and Organizing
Karen – Chief Policy Analyst
Kevin Solis – Policy, Community Education, and Media

 

Wednesday June 13 | 8:00 P.M.
Self Help Graphics
Andrea “Xoch” Ramirez, Co-founder of Ni Santas, an all womxn artist collective based at SHG @andixoch
Alvaro Marquez, LA-based visual artist and part-time professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Cal State, LA.

 

THURSDAY JUNE 14 | 8:00 P.M.
Immigration Resource Center San Gabriel
Jonathan Fung – IRC staff attorney
Malathi Benjamin – Immigration Attorney & IRC Board Member
Robert Romero – UCLA Professor & IRC Board Member

 

Friday June 15 | 8:00 P.M.
Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice
Javier Hernández – Director
National Immigration Law Center
Marielena Hincapié – Executive Director

 

SATURDAY JUNE 16 | 2:00 P.M.
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Angelica Salas – Executive Director

 

Saturday June 16 | 8:00 P.M.
KPFK
Lalo Alcaraz – Author, artist, cartoonist, pocho

 

Sunday June 17 | 2:00 P.M.
Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts

Jaime Aymerich, Actor and co-founder of Crossover Entertainment
Carolina Aymerich, Co-founder of Crossover Entertainment

 

 

SUNDAY JUNE 17 | 7:00 P.M.
KPFK
Betto Arcos – Freelance Radio Journalist (NPR, KPCC, KPFK)

 

TUESDAY JUNE 19 | 8:00 P.M.
National Hispanic Media Coalition
Alex Nogales – President & CEO

 

Wednesday june 20 | 8:00 P.M.
Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project
Patricia Ortiz, Program Director

 

Thursday June 21 | 8:00 P.M.
House of Arts and Ideas
PANCA – Illustrator, painter, muralist, multidisciplinary artist
Mónica Mendoza – Founder/Creator of GRRRL Independent Ladies

 

Friday June 22 | 8:00 P.M.
House of Arts and Ideas
San Cha – Vocal priestess, Femme Xicanx Goddess, multidisciplinary artist
Gabriella Sanchez – Multidisciplinary artist

 

Saturday June 23 | 2:00 P.M.
Gustavo Arellano – California columnist, LA Times Opinion

 

Saturday june 23 | 8:00 P.M.
Fuller Seminary, Centro Latino
Dr. Oscar García-Johnson, Associate Dean and Executive Director, Centro Latino, Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, Faculty, School of Intercultural Studies and Centro Latino, Fuller Theological Seminary

 

Sunday June 24 | 2:00 P.M.
The Immigration Youth Coalition (IYC)
Paula Chen – Volunteer & Facilitator
Melissa Avila – Volunteer & Facilitator

 

Sunday june 24 | 7:00 P.M.
Councilmember Jose Huizar, 14th District

 

Cast

Richard Montoya (Culture Clash Chronicler #1)

Read More

 Sundance Institute Fellow, McDowell Artist Colony alumni. Current Commissions: Selena and the Queens of San Antonio, Come on Let’s Go, The Ritchie Valens Musical, and Venice is Dead (CTG). Film: “Water & Power,” “The Other Barrio,” and Carlos Almaraz Documentary. Actor: “Nacho Libre.” American Conservatory Theater Summer Training Congress. The entire summer!

Herbert Sigüenza (Culture Clash Chronicler #2)

Read More

 Herbert is a founding member of Culture Clash. He is the Playwright in Residence at the San Diego Repertory Theatre through a generous Andrew W. Mellon grant. He has written and starred in the following plays: Cantinflas!, Private Eddie USA, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, El Henry (San Diego Critics Award: Best Play), Steal Heaven and Manifest Destinitis. The SDR recently closed their season with Beachtown, an immersive, interactive play he co-wrote with Rachel Grossman of dog & pony DC. He is currently developing his first musical called Birth Day and an adaptation of Moliere’s School for Wives called Bad Hombres/Good Wives. Herbert also performed the voices of the twin uncles in Pixar’s Oscar-winning Best Animation “Coco.”

Ricardo Salinas (Culture Clash Chronicler #3)

Read More

Ric is a Salvi-Guanaco U.S. Citizen legal alien born in El Salvador raised in San Francisco, and residing in the hills of Silverlake with his lovely family Elena, Lola and Daisy.

Sabina Zúñiga Varela (Culture Clash Chronicler #4)

Read More

Sabina is honored to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut with Culture Clash. Regional Theatre: Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, Tenth Muse, and The Heart of Robin Hood (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); You Never Can Tell (California Shakespeare Theater); Native Gardens (World Premiere/ Cincinnati Playhouse); Mojada: A Medea in LA (The Getty Villa/Boston Court; LADCC Award: Lead Performance); Culture Clash’s Chavez Ravine (Center Theatre Group, Kirk Douglas Theatre; LA Ovation Award: Best Production); Oedipus El Rey, A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center); Bruja (Magic Theatre); El Nogalar (The Fountain Theatre). Other Theater: Electricidad and Still Life (National Hispanic Cultural Center; New Mexico Hispano Entertainer’s Award: Female Performer of the Year). TV: “American Crime” (ABC). Endlessly grateful to the Clashers for this invitation and, as always, indebted to my mom and dad who support my journey in activism through the arts. 

Creative Team

Culture Clash

Read More

 Culture Clash was Established in 1984 in San Francisco’s historic Mission District at the height of the performance art and stand-up comedy boom, while a political world was exploding in Central America and the Boys were clowning, but soon began to sharpen their satirical and political chops in the spirit of their hero: Bertolt Brecht. By the early 90s they were a budding theater force storming the nation’s premier regional stages and festivals. The decade of the 90s saw many commissions and the rise of site-specific work, which planted the Boys in cities and regions not steeped in a Chicano sensibility. This made Culture Clash an outlier in places like Miami, New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, and Boston, which lead Culture Clash directly back to the border regions of the US and the Southwest armed with new skills. This artistic journey is at the heart of what you will experience now: investigative, ethnographic, and artistic theater imbued with a responsibility and desire to excavate the most compelling stories. The act of finding and telling these stories reminds us of the strength of our America. It reminds us on the deepest and most.

Diane Rodriguez (Director)

Read More

Diane Rodriguez is an Off-Broadway, Obie Award- winning theater artist. In the 2016-2017 Los Angeles Theatre Center season, Diane wrote and directed the world premiere of The Sweetheart Deal which was developed by New Harmony in Indiana, the Atlantic Theatre’s Latino Mix Fest in NYC, and the Black Swan Lab at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has directed for City Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, South Coast Repertory, Center Theatre Group, Mixed Blood in Minneapolis, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix (Two Arizona Theatre Nominations: Best Director), Borderlands Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, Victory Gardens in Chicago, Playwright’s Arena (LA Weekly Award Nomination: Best Director), East West Players, Cornerstone Theater Company, the Fountain Theatre, and the Odyssey Theatre, among others. She was a Sundance Directing Fellow in 2017, the Denham Fellow for the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation in 2016, and recently inducted into the College of Fellows for the American Theatre. She served on the TCG Board for eight years and was president for three. She was appointed by President Obama to the National Council on the Arts. Currently she is Associate Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group.

Paula Present (Choreographer)

Read More

Paula was very inspired after seeing Radio Mambo by Culture Clash. She loved it so much that she saw it multiple times and pleaded with Richard to work on their new play, Bordertown. In a post-college fog, choreographing Bordertown with Culture Clash became a beacon, confirming her home and intuition in dance. Twenty years later, she is just as excited for the opportunity to dance with these brilliant men once again! Credits Include: Sigüenza’s A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, Richard Montoya and Gomez Penas’ Los Dopplegangers, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO), “Gypsy 05” (Fashion), “Bombay Beach” (Documentary). Artistic Director, PTERO Dance Theatre. Online: paulapresent.com

Efren Delgadillo, Jr. (Scenic Designer)

Read More

New York: The Three Musketeers (The Acting Company), Mycenaean (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Regional: Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Smart People (Denver Center Theatre Company), Othello (Hartford Stage), DJ Latinidad (Mixed Blood Theatre Company), Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (The Getty Villa/Boston Court), Prometheus Bound (The Getty Villa/Center for New Performance), Shelter (Center for New Performance), The Sweetheart Deal (Los Angeles Theatre Center). Other Credits: Company member of Poor Dog Group. Assistant Professor of Scenic Design, Cal State Northridge. MFA, California Institute of the Arts; BFA, University of California, Irvine.

Jenny Foldenauer (Costume Designer)

Read More

 Jenny is thrilled to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut! The Wild Party (Speakeasy Society-The Broad Stage), Tale of Two Cities, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Antigone, Macbeth (A Noise Within), A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of Greatest of Great Lakes (Theatre of Note), Our Class, Love and Information (Son of Semele), The Who’s Tommy (East West Players), The Taming of the Shrew (Independent Shakespeare Company), Everything You Touch (Boston Court/Rattlestick Playwrights; Ovation Award: Best Costume Design Intimate Theatre; LA Drama Critics Circle Award: Best Costume Design; Stage Raw Award: Best Costume Design). Online: cjfold.com

Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Designer)

Read More

Recent Work: Lynn Nottage’s Mlima’s Tale (Public Theater) and Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves (Playwrights Realm, Lincoln Center). Regional: Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, The Shakespeare Theater (Washington DC). New York: Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Second Stage Theatre. Awards: Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Angstrom Award for Career Achievement in Lighting Design, Ovation award, multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, “Drammy” for best lighting. Lighting design faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Online: lapchichu.com

Adam Phalen (Co-Sound Designer)

Read More

 Select shows include Other Desert Cities, Marjorie Prime (Mark Taper Forum); The New Electric Ballroom, The Word Begins (Rogue Machine Theatre); 9 Circles (Bootleg Theater; LADCC Nomination: Best Sound Design), Against Oblivion (South Coast Repertory); Tempest Redux (Odyssey Theatre); Throw Me On the Burnpile and Light Me Up, St. Jude, Facing Our Truth, Titus Redux, The Paris Letter, Flight (NAACP Award: Best Sound Design), ¡Gaytino!, Taking Flight, Of Equal Measure, Taking Over, Eclipsed, Bones (Kirk Douglas Theatre). Phalen is Head Audio at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Yee Eun Nam (Projection Designer)

Read More

 Yee is thrilled to make her Pasadena Playhouse debut! A scenic and projection designer for opera, theater, and any form for live performances currently based in LA. Recent works include projection design for Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (The Soraya), Sapo (Getty Villa), Citizen: An American Lyric (Kirk Douglas Theatre), Dementia, Sweetheart Deal, A Mexican Trilogy: An American History (LATC), Les contes d’Hoffmann, La Bohème, Cunning Little Vixen (Miami Summer Music Festival). Yee is a recipient of Cirque du Soleil Fellowship Award. MFA in Theater Design, UCLA. Online: yeeeunnam.com

Jennifer Slattery (Production Stage Manager)

Read More

Pasadena Playhouse: Our Town, King Charles III, and Belleville. Broadway: Bullets Over Broadway, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Guys and Dolls, Oleanna, and Cry-Baby. Other NYC: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Heading East (The Asia Society), NY2022, Shir a Shalom (Guggenheim Works & Process). Regional: Next to Normal (East West Players), Restoration Comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titus Andronicus, Othello (The Old Globe), and work with La Jolla Playhouse, New Harmony/USI, the Rude Mechs, 7 Devils Playwrights Conference, and ZACH Theatre. Jenny is on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts. Education: MFA (UCSD), MA (UT Austin), and BA (University of Florida).

Giselle N. Vega (Assistant Stage Manager)

Read More

 Giselle is a recent graduate of California State University, Northridge. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts where her emphasis was Stage Management. She was the LA County Arts Commission Production Intern for Independent Shakespeare Company in 2017 during the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. Her most recent and favorite credits include Measure for Measure (Independent Shakespeare Company), Culture Clash’s An American Odyssey (Los Angeles Theater Center) and Culture Clash’s Sapo (Getty Villa). She is very grateful to be working on another project with Culture Clash!

Morales/O’con Casting (Casting Consultants)

Read More

Rosalinda Morales and Pauline O’con met at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, joining their varied experiences in independent film, network television, studio casting and their professional relationships in the agency, management community they formed Morales/O’con Casting. Their passion and knowledge of actors, writing and the casting process showcases the diverse and progressive culture of today’s audiences. In 2018, they were honored to receive the CSA Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting-Regional Theatre West for the 40th Anniversary production of Zoot Suit for the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Ticket Options

Membership

Get tickets to our season shows with the freedom to come when you want.
Become a Member

Group Sales

Bring a group 10 or more to save 20 – 40% on tickets. Tickets start at just $25.

To purchase call 626 921 1161 or email groupsales@pasadenaplayhouse.org.

Rush Tickets

A limited number of rush tickets for all season shows are available exclusively through our ticketing partner, TodayTix.
Learn More or Download The App

Advisory

Not advised for children 13 and under. Children 5 and under will not be permitted in the theater.

If you have any additional questions regarding content, age-appropriateness or stage effects (such as strobe lights or theatrical fog) that might have a bearing on patron comfort, please contact patron services at 626-356-PLAY.

Institutional Partner

This project is supported in part by an award from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.