Daily Trojan USC.edu

Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Karen Tongson Under-represented | The trio of Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, a multimedia group, will perform in "The Barber of East L.A.," tonight and Saturday night at Ground Zero Coffeehouse.

In a society that grows more and more aware of identity and its intersection with race and sexuality, it is common to witness the upsurge of a new subgenre of art that reflects the often ignored reality of the marginalized group.

This leads to the representation of communities that stretch the constructs of identity into realms only manifested in the imagination.

Discovering what it means to be a gay minority, while trying to find a place of belonging in the cultural minefield that is Los Angeles, is a theme that is explored in "The Barber of East L.A.," a performance that will be held at Ground Zero Coffeehouse tonight and Saturday night.

This play demonstrates the double marginalization of being gay and being Latino in Los Angeles and is performed by the dynamic trio of Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, a multimedia ensemble that got its start in 2002 as community activists.

"The Barber of East L.A.," its new full-length play, made possible by funding from the Visions and Voices Initiative, explores the narratives of gay and punk Latinos living in East L.A. during the 1980s' Reagan era and is loosely based on the life story of Nancy Valverde, a 75-year-old gay Chicana.

"We basically crafted a story around this woman's trajectory, and the life she spent in the piece of the world that had her name on it: the barbershop she owned," said Raquel Gutierrez, a member of BdP and assistant director of the Center for Feminist Research.

In "The Barber of East L.A." and in many of its other sketch-driven performances, the overarching theme is experimenting with the boundaries of identity and creating visibility of gay and Latino experiences that are often brushed over in society's portrait of sexuality.

"People walk away with a better understanding of racial and gender differences and of what it's like to be a queer Latina who comes from a different economic background. We draw these outsider narratives onto the stage and bring them to life," Gutierrez said.

BdP's goal is to give a voice to underrepresented communities, whose stories and contributions to the cultural makeup of Los Angeles might otherwise be disregarded.

"The Barber of East L.A." is only one part of the Visions and Voices series, "Records y Recuerdos: Music and Memory in Queer East L.A."

"The play shows that sexuality is not a one-dimensional issue, it intersects with race and class. To have queer programming for the USC community stretches the experimental boundaries of what Visions and Voices does," said Karen Tongson, assistant professor of English and gender studies and organizer of this event.

Set in the turmoil of the gay civil rights movement, the play pays homage to those gay activists who inspired an upcoming generation of gay Latinos to find belonging outside of the institutions that reject them.

"As a queer performer, I've always been galvanized by queer performance. It made up for the fact I didn't see myself represented in the real world, and it called me to find my own voice," Gutierrez said. "The play is about the consequence of trying to be yourself in the places you are from and about not having to compromise who you are to satisfy the expectations of others."

This is the group's fifth show and the first that allowed them to collaborate with the acclaimed director, Luis Alfaro, a MacArthur Fellow.

"Being able to work with Luis Alfaro was our greatest achievement because it allowed us to ask different types of questions and trust our instincts. He taught us to leave people with a deep impression, which is why we're here," Gutierrez said.

"The Barber of East L.A." maps masculine identities over traditional feminine roles, broadening the concept of gender roles and changing how it intersects with identity.

This ambiguity and fusing of the male-female antithesis creates a "site of liberation," Gutierrez said.

"We want to expand the visual vocabulary of what constitutes male and female by exploring the gray area of contradiction behind gender ideologies. In the end, queer Latinas just want to be seen as human beings," Gutierrez said.

In a city where Latinos are often considered anything but a minority, "The Barber of East L.A." illustrates how a society can still have particularities around identity.

By playing with the concept of the individual in a way that makes it fluid and open to interpretation, BpD allows its individual identities to transcend boundaries, making room for understanding.

"'The Barber of East L.A.' portrays the search of belonging within the complicated and sometimes hostile terrain of home. It's reflective of our reality and I hope students will be empowered to learn, ask questions and be proactive against hate and ignorance," Gutierrez said.

Embracing different meanings of sexuality and including them in the socioeconomic tapestry of Los Angeles is the message behind "The Barber of East L.A.," and it conveys this idea by telling the unsung stories of gay minorities.

"This is the first time that some people will encounter these issues, of what it means to be queer and of color in Los Angeles," Tongson said. "We are not asking for acceptance, we are demanding recognition."

- "The Barber of East L.A." starts at 7 p.m. tonight and 6 p.m. Saturday night at Ground Zero Coffeehouse.

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