Sandra Delgado, creator of LA HAVANA MADRID, plays the title character in the world premiere. Photo by Joel Maisonet.

Teatro Vista has announced their 2018-2019 season. “American Jornalero,” a Chicago premiere by Ed Cardona Jr., is the fall opener as part of the Chicago Latino International Theatre Festival. It’s about a group of Latinx immigrant day laborers who are confronted by “America First” vigilantes. Nate Santana directs the production at Victory Gardens’ Richard Christiansen Theatre.

2019 brings “The Abuelas,” another world premiere by Stephanie Allison Walker, as a sequel to her hit “The Madres.” The play explores Argentina’s military dictatorship from 1976-1983. Teatro Vista Artistic Director Ricardo Gutiérrez directs, again at the Richard Christiansen Theatre.

The season closes with a remount of the company’s smash hit “La Havana Madrid” by Sandra Delgado, directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce. It’s a musical history of Latino Caribbeans in Chicago performed as a recreation of a nightclub from Chicago’s north side in the 1960s. It’s a co-production with Collaboraction that will perform at a venue to be announced.

Teatro Vista’s 2018-19 Season (from the press release):

“American Jornalero”
A Chicago premiere
By Ed Cardona Jr.
Directed by Teatro Vista Ensemble member Nate Santana
October 18-21, 2018
At the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago

In “American Jornalero,” a group of immigrant day laborers waiting to be picked up for work collide with two citizen vigilantes fashioning themselves on the Minuteman Project. “American Jornalero” is a vibrant portrait of the intersecting transient lives in the search for a daily wage in a land of many compromised American dreams. It is a compassionate, clear-eyed and illuminating look at lives and people too often ignored in the U.S. landscape.

“American Jornalero” is Teatro Vista’s entry in the 2018 Chicago Latino International Theatre Festival sponsored by the Chicago Latino Theatre Alliance.

“The Abuelas”
A world premiere
By Stephanie Alison Walker
Directed by Teatro Vista Artistic Director Ricardo Gutierrez
February 9 – March 17, 2019
At the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago

Gabriela is an Argentine concert cellist living in Chicago with her American husband and adjusting to life as a new mom. Life is good until a visit from two strangers upends everything. Walker’s play, about the devastating repercussions of Argentina’s military dictatorship from 1976-1983, asks how one goes on after discovering their life is a lie. Does the restoration of truth bring freedom or suffering? Is it possible to integrate two identities into one life? The Abuelas explores these questions as well as the heart’s capacity for forgiveness even in the face of the harshest betrayal.

“The Abuelas” is a sequel to Teatro Vista’s most recent production, the acclaimed world premiere of “The Madres,” also by Walker. “The Madres” told the tale of three generations of women in 1970s Argentina during the country’s now infamous Guerra Sucio.

“La Havana Madrid”
By Teatro Vista ensemble member Sandra Delgado
Directed by Teatro Vista ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce
April 4 – May 12, 2019
A co-production with Collaboraction
At a venue TBA

Back by popular demand, Teatro Vista’s season finale is the return of “La Havana Madrid,” a theatrical, cinematic and musical history of Latino Caribbeans in Chicago by ensemble member Sandra Delgado. Fellow ensemble member Cheryl Lynn Bruce directs Delgado’s immersive documentary theater experience, complete with live music, based on the true story of the 1960’s Chicago nightclub, La Havana Madrid.

Inspired by actual stories of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Colombian immigrants who found refuge there, “La Havana Madrid” recreates a special time and place by immersing audiences in the lively music of that decade, from mambo to salsa. Throughout, “La Havana Madrid” also tells how and why Latinos originally migrated to the shores of Lake Michigan, only to be pushed further west – away from the lake – by the forces of gentrification and racism.

The 2017 world premiere of La Havana Madrid deeply resonated with Chicagoans from all different backgrounds and ages, playing to sold-out runs at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre, The Miracle Center in Hermosa, and an extended summer engagement in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre.

For more information, visit teatrovista.org.