Borderlands Theater puts Tucsonβs history on stage.
They did it with βMAS,β about the shamefully banned Mexican American Studies program in TUSD.
They did it with βBarrio Storiesβ at the Tucson Convention Center and another in Barrio Anita, both of which told the stories of the neighborhoods and the people in them.
And they are doing it with βSanctuary,β currently on stage at Southside Presbyterian Church, where the Sanctuary Movement started in the early 1980s.
It is a powerful experience to sit in that simple church and hear the story of the women and men of conscience who worked tirelessly to help those fleeing war-torn Central America find refuge in this country.
Playwright Milta Ortiz, whose own family fled that war and settled in the United States, has instilled the play with the drama and tension that the Sanctuary workers and the refugees lived with every day for most of the β80s. And by extension, it helps us understand the desperation of the people today doing the same thing: those fleeing violence in Central America and those fighting an unjust government so that people who need an extended hand receive it.
Ortiz took some literary license, changing the names of the characters, but her deep research means the play vibrates with truth and humanity. The potential for a preachy piece was there, but the play was not. There was nothing didactic about it.
βSanctuaryβ is the first of a planned trilogy. It tells of the beginnings of the Sanctuary Movement, how the founders struggled to find ways to help the refugees legally but were blocked almost every time, and how, finally, they realized the only way to make an impact and really help was to declare Southside a sanctuary. Eventually, more than 500 churches across the country followed in their footsteps.
The tension in this play isnβt just what will happen to the refugees. It is also in whether people can overcome their fears of the consequences of breaking the law. We see and understand that journey in the Rev. Jeff Chord, played convincingly by Eric Everts. And T Loving is strong as she shows us the passion and deep commitment of Carol Moyer, a lawyer dedicated to doing the legal work for the refugees. Michael Woodson effectively conveyed the clumsiness and the sense of duty to what is just in Will Hewitt, a Quaker committed to justice and humanity.
This isnβt a perfect play; the acting was uneven, sometimes scene changes felt clunky, it was over-earnest at times.
But hereβs what makes it a potent and important production: To the person, from Ortiz to director Marc Pinate to each of the actors, we sense the commitment to the story and feel the heart they pour into it. That heart is important: It is what kept the Sanctuary Movement going, it is essential to our humanity.
Tucson can be an amazing community. It has people who fight and care and take action. βSanctuaryβ movingly tells the story of one of the many times we have done that; it shows us who we are.
