Challenging, thought-provoking, exciting. These are the words lead playwright, Georgina Escobar, used to describe her upcoming show Monsters We Create.
Reimagine the border city of El Paso as an alternate reality in which it has been overpopulated by refugees due to a climatic event which causes the two coasts to sink. As a result of the scarcity, the government creates sterilization camps to deal with the ongoing crisis.
“The story really takes us into a young writer who has gone through a sterilization camp and how she remembers she made a pact with her friends in high school; if they ever got in trouble they would run away together,” Escobar explains.
The story takes off from that premise and makes the audience question how we engage with bad news or really extreme circumstances.
The driving force of the plot is climate change that pushes refugees to the borderland tying in two significant issues in the present-day political and environmental climate. The collaborators wanted to involve current events into their storyline to create a real and memorable show for audiences — especially those living on the border who see the harsh rhetoric used against their beloved hometown.
“When you hear different voices express the same thought, that’s how you know it’s really in the atmosphere,” Escobar reveals.
It is the elements of truth and the idea of dealing with the progression of a bad situation that make this show special and close to not only Escobar, but the writers who had a hand in putting the show together.
The show was made in collaboration with students who were enrolled in a special topics class at the university under the Theatre and Dance Department. Escobar came in with the title Monsters We Create, and the students were guided throughout the process of writing the show together.
In just six months, what was just an idea turned into the stage production that will now be shown for spectators to leave them wondering what and who are the real monsters.
The cast is made up of 11 actors with one being a part of the original writing team that collaborated on this project. Along with Georgina Escobar, the writing team included 22 students from the fall 2019 semester class.
The show is under the direction of Kim McKean and written by Georgina Escobar in collaboration with the UTEP student playwrights. Opening night is Wednesday Feb. 12 at 7:30pm with performances through Saturday Feb. 15 at 7:30pm as well. Saturday and Sunday, having performances at 2:30 pm. Performances are located at the Fox Fine Arts Studio Theatre on the first floor. The cost of admission is $18 Adult; $15 Senior, Military, Non-UTEP Students; $12 UTEP Students, Children (4-12). Opening night is sold out but there is still availability for the rest of the showings.
By Isabel Garcia