¡Viva Las Mujeres! Don’t Miss This Day of Traditional Music and Dance!
THE OLD GLOBE Presents a FREE Public AXIS Event: MARIACHI REYNA DE LOS ANGELES Showcase with Special Guest DANZARTS

Join Us on SATURDAY, MARCH 31 on the GLOBE’S COPLEY PLAZA from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.

SAN DIEGO (March 22, 2018)—The Old Globe believes that theatre matters, and our work each day is to make theatre matter to more people! Join us for a free mariachi concert by the all-female group Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, the real-life counterparts of the groundbreaking ’70s women pioneers portrayed onstage in the world premiere of American Mariachi. Traditional Mexican folk dances will also take place with DanzArts illustrating the rhythms onstage. Our special host Gerardo Flores will introduce and explain all aspects of this marvelous presentation, both in English and Spanish!

Part of the Globe’s free monthly AXIS performing art series, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles will stir things up on Saturday, March 31 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with DanzArts from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., all on the Globe’s Copley Plaza in Balboa Park, preceding the 2:00 p.m. matinee of American Mariachi. (For a quick look at the play from the Denver run, click here.)

As a special treat, the Old Globe Theatre lobby will open for the festivities from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to share a crucial chapter in mariachi history through “American Women in Mariachi,” an exhibit curated by Dr. Leonor Xochitl Perez, Ph.D., Founder and Director of the Mariachi Women’s Festival. This fascinating exhibit will use photographs, videos, instruments, and costumes to track the involvement of American women in mariachi since the 1800s. Dr. Perez will be onsite to do an introduction on this wonderful exhibit.

Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles is the first all-female mariachi in the United States. They are growing proof that when mariachi maestro Jose Hernandez created Reyna de Los Angeles in 1994, it was more than a novelty—it has become a genre. The highly praised Reyna advanced the place of women in mariachi music from being solely singers to comprising a full complement of musicians. In a musical landscape where songs are often written by men about male perspectives, Reyna has created its own history. Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles captivates audiences with their vivacious spirit, sensitivity, beauty, warmth, and clearly feminine outlook of the realm of Mexico's musical heritage. ¡Viva Las Mujeres!

DanzArts is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to preserve Mexico and Spain’s heritage by raising cultural awareness and giving back to the community through dance. Its members strive for it to become a self-sustaining dance academy featuring classically and technically trained instructors who develop other performers and seek to share the theatrical dance experience throughout the region, as well as be an innovative cultural organization that educates and entertains.

Dr. Leonor Xochitl Perez, Ph.D. is a leading proponent and preservationist of women’s mariachi history. As a scholar, she travels the world giving lectures on this topic. She is the curator of the lobby exhibit for American Mariachi, and as a mariachi musician herself, she launched the annual Mariachi Women’s Festival in Los Angeles in 2014, which features all-female mariachi groups from around the world. Dr. Perez is also the author of the seminal essay “Transgressing the Taboo: A Chicana’s Voice in the Mariachi World.”

Over the course of American Mariachi’s run (March 23 – April 29), other events will include the Vicki and Carl Zeiger Insights Seminar on Tuesday, March 27 at 5:30 p.m., featuring playwright José Cruz González and director James Vásquez chatting about the process of creating a world premiere play with music. There will be a panel discussion on Women and Mariachi on Monday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m., as the amazing Dr. Perez, curator of the lobby exhibit for American Mariachi, introduces audiences to the history of mariachi and the role of women in the form for the past century. Our traditional Subject Matters will delve into Music, Memory, and Alzheimer’s, both on Saturday, April 7, following the 2:00 p.m. matinee, and on Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 p.m., when Kristen Cusato of the San Diego/Imperial Chapter of the national Alzheimer’s Association joins audiences for a pre-show talk about music as a caretaking tool for patients with Alzheimer’s. She will also offer a general introduction to Alzheimer’s, warning signs of the disease, and resources for local patients and caregivers. All of these events are free and unticketed. Click here for more information.

AXIS is supported by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. Financial support is provided by The City of San Diego.

LOCATION and PARKING INFORMATION: The Old Globe is located in San Diego’s Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, please visit www.theoldglobe.org/plan-your-visit/directions--parking/detailed-directions.

PLEASE NOTE: To look up online or GPS directions to The Old Globe, please do not use the Delivery Address above. There is only a 10-minute zone at that physical address. For GPS users, please click here for the map coordinates, and here for written directions to The Old Globe and nearby parking in Balboa Park.

About AXIS: One of the ways The Old Globe’s Arts Engagement team exemplifies its mission to make theatre matter to more people is through a program called AXIS, where free cultural programs on the Globe’s Copley Plaza are led by local artists and craftspeople. 9.5 million visitors pass through Balboa Park each year. The Old Globe strives to engage this population as we transform our non-performance space into a participatory art venue, utilizing the Globe’s unique physical location as an opportunity for connectivity and creative placemaking. AXIS is an effort to broaden our concept of audience, extending beyond regular ticket-holders and encompassing diverse, multigenerational constituencies from communities across San Diego County.

CALENDAR: American Mariachi (3/23–4/29), AXIS: Mariachi Reyna (3/31), The Wanderers (4/6–5/6), AXIS: Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! (4/21), A Thousand Splendid Suns (5/12–6/17), AXIS: coLAB Program Showcase (5/12), Native Gardens (5/26–6/24), AXIS: Kids’ Dance Party featuring Dance Evolve (6/12), The Tempest (6/17–7/22), Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (7/2–8/12), AXIS: Fourth District Senior Center’s Globe Takeover, featuring The Season Line Dancers (7/10),Barefoot in the Park (7/28–8/26), Much Ado About Nothing (8/12–9/16), AXIS: Dance Lessons featuring Elvina Addams (8/21), Heart of Rock and Roll (9/6/18-10/21), AXIS: Mexican Independence Day Celebration featuring Las Colibrí in concert (9/15), 2018 Globe Gala (9/22), AXIS: Day of the Dead Celebration (10/28).

PHOTO EDITORS: Digital images of The Old Globe’s productions are available at www.theoldglobe.org/press-room.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego’s flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre’s artistic and arts engagement programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Meteor Shower, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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Advance interviews are available with Director of Arts Engagement Freedome Bradley-Ballentine,as well as most of our great expert consultants.
Please contact Alejandra Enciso-Dardashti to arrange at aenciso@TheOldGlobe.org or (619) 238-0043 x2356.