First came the testiphonial , Precious Knowledge; now, a docudrama is in the works, but the production crew of In Lak Ech: The Criminalization of Knowledge needs your help.
A mere $2,500 is all that is needed to “help manifest this vision.” Organizers are looking for cash donations to pay for costs related to developing the script and a workshop production in June.
Milta Ortiz received the National New Play Network residency at Borderlands Theater to research and write the script and Borderlands Theater is providing a $2, 500 matching donation as the institutional sponsor of the project.
In September, the Pima County supervisors voted to give $10,000 to the Borderlands Theater for “Contingency Fund” support. Last week, the County Manager, Chuck Huckelberry announced his plans to ask the taxpayers to support a property tax increase.
According to organizers, this summer the creative team of Milta Ortiz (playwright) and Marc David Pinate (director) moved to Tucson, Arizona to interview, write, and produce a docudrama play about the now mythical banning of Mexican American Studies classes in the Tucson Unified School District.
While the filming of the Precious Knowledge was marred by the molestation of at least one young woman by those associated with the production team, the tight scripting of the children worked to win the hearts of the mindless across the country. It was so effective in fact, that those formerly committed to integrated classrooms became proponents of a new segregation at the core of the Critical Race based pedagogy.
Pinate, in the fundraising plea, says that the work is “a border story in the best possible way… in that the border, the fringe, is where paradigms crumble. The TUSD M.A.S. story is the story of the continuing evolution of the Americas. We thought it was important to document this artistically and we are very glad to be working with Save Ethnic Studies.”
According to the fundraising plea, “Milta and Marc need to raise $2,500 to pay for costs related to developing the script and a workshop production in June, and they are half way there! At these workshop performances, community members will have the opportunity to give feedback, helping Milta and Marc represent the Tucson experience as honestly as possible.”
The National New Playwright Network granted Milta a year long residency to write this docudrama “based on the strength of the project and its historical importance,” according to the organizers.
For a donation of $10, one will receive “Good Karma and a thank you in the program,” those donating $20 will receive “Extra good karma and a thank you in the program,” and those donating $30 will receive “a signed program by the cast and crew and a Critical Thinker thank you in the program.”
Curtis Acosta, the charismatic Mexican American Studies teacher commonly referred to as maestro by his sycophants who orchestrated the takeover of the District’s Governing Board meeting in the spring of 2011, and fought Auggie Romero for the Christ role in the well choreographic passion play, which culminated in the mythological banning of books, is expected to be resurrected in this docudrama.
The “banned” books were moved to each school’s library where they were available for any student who wished to read them. However, that narrative did not support the paradigm that the District’s Latinos were oppressed and denied equal access to education.
Acosta closes out the fundraising plea thanking recipients for their “support through the years.” Acosta is currently a “consultant” with the Acosta Latino Learning Partnership. According to Acosta’s website, ALLP “strives to mentor educators through personal, detailed, and interactive professional development that leads to transformative teaching and learning practices. He claims his consultants have experience designing and teaching innovative curriculum that is specifically grounded on the experiences and strengths of Latin@ and Mexican-American students.”