Yo Confieso

Raul Garcia is the pen behind Confessions of a Mexpatriate. The play, performed this weekend by actor Mical Trejo, deals with, among other subjects, the syntax of mainstream American media and steadfast heritage norms.

"It is a journey seeking self, seeking identity, seeking belonging, seeking culture," the Tejano playwright tells SFR. "It's a journey, really, to find oneself."

Confessions, the recipient of the 2007 National Latino Playwriting Award says, is deeply autobiographical.

"It's a work of fiction, inspired by and based on my experience during a writing residency in Oaxaca," he says. "It's about what you find when you open your eyes in a place that you're not familiar with and start to see yourself maybe as other people see you, instead of [this] invented reality."

The trip back to the homeland represented for Garcia an interesting juxtaposition that brought both his made-in-the-US Latino self and his Mexican counterpart to float. Still, the theme, he says, is universal.

"I discovered that I could be accepted and I could accept people as they were," he muses. "It wasn't about 'fitting in' so much, as it was about accepting our differences. I was able to recognize what we had in common and what about our backgrounds was different and distinct."

Confessions of a Mexpatriate
7:30 pm Friday, Feb. 6
and Saturday, Feb. 7.
2 pm Sunday. $12-$15
Teatro Paraguas
3205 Calle Marie, Ste. B
424-1601

Santa Fe Reporter