Nowhere on the Border
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Nowhere on the Border is a one act play written by Carlos Lacamara. It performed at the Hayworth Theater in Wilshire, Los Angeles, California in 2005. It was written in response to the Immigration conflict. The play also performed at Repertorio Español in New York.
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[edit] Story
The play switches between two story-lines throughout the play. As well, there are numerous monologues.
[edit] Roberto Castillo and Gary Dobbs
The play begins with a border vigilante named Gary Dobbs inspecting the stage and finding the body of a Hispanic man lying down on the ground. The Border Patrol guard believes the man to be dead. Just as he's calling the Border Patrol the man on the ground wakes up sharply, startling the guard. He finds out that the man's name is Roberto Castillo, and he is looking for his twenty-two year old daughter Pilar that walked into the Arizona Desert from Mexico hoping to join her husband in the United States. Dobbs suspects that Castillo a drug smuggler, and decides to wait with him for the Border Patrol to come and check if his visa is real. Castillo goes on to explain that he isn't moving from that particular spot because he found a mutilated corpse and knew that if his daughter was found dead by someone, he would want someone to look after the body until someone came. He is sure that the body isn't his daughter because the man that smuggled her in said that if she died on the trip, he would put a blue cloth over her face, which the corpse lacks. During the time that they are waiting, they talk about their families and their culture, and form a unique bond between each other. At the end, Dobbs sees a blue cloth under a rock next to the body, indicating that the body is in fact Pilar, and they both bury the body.
[edit] The Walk through the desert
(In the Repertorio Español production, these scenes are performed in Spanish).
The other story-line is Pilar's journey through the desert. She pays a Coyote (a people smuggler) named Don Rey to take her across the Sonoran Desert to join her husband. She walks through the desert with Montoya (the guide) and Jesus Ortiz (another man being smuggled in). They encounter hardships along the way, and Montoya frequently sniffs cocaine, offering some to Pilar when she is tired. Pilar eventually gets dehydrated and Jesus is pressuring Montoya to go get help. Montoya sets off to find help, and isn't seen in the play again. Jesus then puts the blue cloth over her face and goes off to find help as well. Pilar's last words are "Kooka-roo", referring to a chicken character that her father used to annoy her with.
[edit] Trivia
- Carlos Lacamara, the play's writer, also played Robert Castillo in its run in Los Angeles.
- Pepé the Chicken, the character that Castillo used to annoy Pilar with, is based on the various characters Carlos Lacamara uses to entertain his children.
- The Role of Gary Dobbs was played by Patrick Rowe in Los Angeles, who is a friend of Lacamara.
