25 year-old Dennis adopts his 5 year-old bi-racial nephew, Gerardo, following the death of the boy’s mother and his father’s abandonment. The two adore one another. However, when Gerardo discovers that hid uncle cannot understand the racism he experiences, he searches for his father, Antonio. He believes Antonio will understand and help relieve the pain and powerlessness he feels.

He tracks his father to a ranch in Mexico. There he learns that his mother refused to live in Mexico, and so Antonio outstayed his visa and was deported. He did not abandon his son. On the ranch, Gerardo tends cattle and learns about his family and culture. Through Antonio’s instruction, Gerardo learns to deal with his feelings about racism. Fully understanding both his Latino and Anglo identities, Gerardo returns to tend to Sparky who needs his help, much as Gerardo as a boy had needed his. In sum it is a story interracial relationships race, power dynamics, trauma and love.

“Spit In Your Face” is a political comedy/satire for three actors that employs a simple set. Our bi-national collaboration in English chronicles how Liliana Tzintzún, a young Mexican American of indigenous origins, overcomes the oppression imposed on her by two men, one an American theater producer and the other a Mexican guest director. The play explores the historical conflict between Mexico and the United States by dramatizing the power struggle between these two men, with Liliana caught in the middle. In the end, Liliana rejects the conflicting cultural labels imposed upon her by the two men and defines her own identity as a Mexican American.

We wrote the play in close consultation with Esmeralda Xochitl Flores –a Mexican American cultural advisor– and with translation of selected terms into the P'urhé language from Antonio Flores, General Coordinator of Ireta P'urhépecha.

“Spit In Your Face” is a political comedy/satire for three actors that employs a simple set. Our bi-national collaboration in English chronicles how Liliana Tzintzún, a young Mexican American of indigenous origins, overcomes the oppression imposed on her by two men, one an American theater producer and the other a Mexican guest director. The play explores the historical conflict between Mexico and the United States by dramatizing the power struggle between these two men, with Liliana caught in the middle. In the end, Liliana rejects the conflicting cultural labels imposed upon her by the two men and defines her own identity as a Mexican American.

We wrote the play in close consultation with Esmeralda Xochitl Flores –a Mexican American cultural advisor– and with translation of selected terms into the P'urhé language from Antonio Flores, General Coordinator of Ireta P'urhépecha.