Promoting Dialogue Through Theater
Actor Alex Alpharaoh performs solo show 鈥淲ET: A DACAmented Journey鈥 as part of the Catalyst Series for Social Justice
Los Angeles-based actor Alex Alpharaoh performed his one-man immigration-themed show 鈥淲ET: A DACAmented Journey鈥 for听a captivated audience Monday night at Denver鈥檚 Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center. The event was held as part of the Graduate School of Social Work鈥檚 .
In addition to watching the performance, attendees had the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with Alpharaoh to talk about his inspiration for writing the show, and how they might take action to promote immigration reform.
In her introduction for the evening, Amanda Moore McBride, dean of the Graduate School of Social Work, challenged the audience to think about the way听people are affected by borders. 鈥淣ational boundaries are social constructions of reality that impact people鈥檚 lives,鈥 she said. 鈥淭onight, we want to contemplate that fact through theater.鈥
During the show, Alpharaoh addressed the issues national borders can raise head on, playing nearly 20 different characters to tell his own life story of growing up as an undocumented citizen. He reenacted key moments in his life, beginning with his childhood in Los Angeles, where he has lived since his mother brought him to the United States from Guatemala when he was only three months old.
鈥淭he show is technically a monologue since I鈥檓 alone on stage, but you meet my mother, my father, my daughter鈥攁 whole slew of people who have participated in this journey,鈥 Alpharaoh explained in an earlier interview.
One of the major turning points of the play involves Alpharaoh鈥檚 return to Guatemala to meet his grandfather for the first time鈥攋ust as President Trump听announced that he was ending the DACA program.
Alpharaoh delved into the logistical struggle he faced trying to make the trip without having proper documentation, as well as the personal struggle of coming听to terms with his cultural identity. 鈥淚鈥檝e grown up in a society where I was not allowed to do anything but assimilate culturally, and then as an adult was told by the same society that I wasn鈥檛 welcome because I don鈥檛 have a piece of paper that says 鈥榶ou belong,鈥欌 Alpharaoah said.
Despite the political nature of the show鈥檚 content, Alpharaoh insisted that he is an artist above all. 鈥淚鈥檓 just an artist who鈥檚 sharing my story and hopefully creating enough of an awareness that people will be willing to have a dialogue about what it means to have comprehensive immigration reform in this country,鈥 he said.听
He said he wants his show to encourage conversation more than anything: 鈥淚 hope that this show gives people鈥攅ven if it鈥檚 for those 85 minutes they are sitting in the audience鈥攁n opportunity to see another person as a human being, not just as a number, or a statistic, or a media story, or a political ploy, and be able to have a conversation afterwards.鈥
听to participate in the next Catalyst Series for Social Justice event, a workshop on Personal听Storytelling for Social Justice to be held March 17-18, 2019.
听