(Berkeley, Oct. 13, 2024)
Circuit Network, Rising Rhythm and St. John’s Presbyterian Church of Berkeley is pleased to announce the presentation of “Little Central America, 1984,” a live performance written and performed by Elia Arce and Rubén Martínez that explores the history of the “Little Central Americas” in the United States founded by refugees largely from the civil wars of the 1980s. The performance brings together poetry, live music and testimonials recreating the era when the conflicts in Guatemala and El Salvador displaced over one million people and gave rise to the Sanctuary Movement in which faith-based activists risked their freedom to offer shelter to refugees in defiance of federal law.
The performance will have its Berkeley premiere on Friday, December 13, 2024, at 7:30pm, at St. John’s Presbyterian Church of Berkeley at 2727 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 9470, followed by a show on Saturday, December 14, 2024, at 7:30pm, and close on Sunday, December 15, 2024, 6pm. A local community food vendor will provide Central American regional food and drink before the show.
Presented by Circuit Network and Rising Rhythm in association with St. John’s Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, “Little Central America, 1984” will be performed at one of the founding sites of the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s, St. John’s Presbyterian Church of Berkeley.
Alongside writer-performers Elia Arce and Rubén Martínez, the cast includes local artists and activists like Leticia Hernández, José Artiga, Nina Serrano and Greg Landau, as well as educators, students, and community members with roots in the Bay Area and Central America.
“‘Little Central America’ is about making connections – across generations, across regions of the country,” says Martínez, who conceived the production and is co-writer and performer with Arce, who also directs. “The ideal of sanctuary is what ties it all together, a notion with roots that go all the way back to antiquity. When people say ’safe space’ today, they’re invoking some of that history.”
The show culminates with a ceremony honoring local Central American activists and their allies who played a role in the original Sanctuary Movement or who have responded to the ongoing contemporary refugee crisis and the founding of “Little Central America” communities, including, in the Bay Area, the Mission District of San Francisco, along with a significant Guatemalan presence in Oakland’s Fruitvale. The work presents this American and Central American story to make visible a forgotten chapter in our history and to shed light on the deep context of violence and trauma that today’s refugee crisis stems from – violence that Little Central America, 1984 approaches with the healing salve of art.
LITTLE CENTRAL AMERICA, 1984 PRESENTED BY CIRCUIT NETWORK
in association with
ST. JOHN’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BERKELEY and Rising Rhythm
PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES
Friday, December 13, 7:30pm
Saturday, December 14, 7:30pm
Sunday, December 15, 6pm
ADMISSION
$10-$35 sliding scale, with no one turned away for lack of funds.
Tickets available at https://lca1984.bpt.me/
LOCATION
St. John’s Presbyterian Church of Berkeley
2727 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 9470
SPECIAL EVENT
PANEL DISCUSSION and SNEAK PERFORMANCE PREVIEW
Moderated by Oakland Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya
Panelists:
Dr. Stephania Canizales, Dr. Mauricio Ramírez, José Artiga,
Central Americans for Education (CAFÉ).
at
Latinx Research Center, University of California Berkeley
2547 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
Thursday, Dec. 5, 6:30pm
FREE admission
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
– ELIA ARCE is an artist working in a wide variety of media, including installation, writing, experimental theater, social sculpture, and photo/video/sculptural and live performance. She has performed and taught in universities and art centers throughout the United States, Great Britain, Mexico, Brazil, Mali, Spain, Cuba, Canada, and Costa Rica. A critical study of Arce’s body of work was published in 2018 by the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at New York University. Currently, her work is being exhibited in Costa Rica at Museo del Banco Central, Museo de Arte Costarricense, and at cero_uno; a space for artists by artists. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Costa Rica, she has received awards and fellowships from Getty Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network, National Endowment Fund, Durfee Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the US Fulbright Program.
– RUBEN MARTINEZ is a native of Los Angeles and the son and grandson of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador, is a writer, performer and teacher. He is the author of Desert America: A Journey 
Across Our Most Divided Landscape and Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail and other titles. He is currently the host and writer of the web-based interview series “Excavating the Future,” a collaboration between PBS-affiliate KCET of Los Angeles and independent online magazine Capital & Main. He is also the creator and host of the VARIEDADES performance series, multidisciplinary performances that reveal hidden histories in Los Angeles and the borderlands. Two of these, The Ballad of Ricardo Flores Magón and VARIEDADES on Olvera Street, were filmed for broadcast by PBS-affiliate KCET. He is the recipient of an Emmy Award, a Lannan Foundation Fellowship, and a Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
ABOUT ST. JOHN’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BERKELEY
St. John’s has been around over a hundred years and has been a strong presence for Christian worship, music and arts, in addition to its involvement in social justice and community support. A founding member of the Sanctuary movement back in March of 1982, we have been involved with welcoming and including the stranger and working for just policy both foreign and domestic. In addition to supporting and working with the great social justice and immigration non-profits in the area, we have three refugee families we are currently working with. We have established an endowment for refugee work with our sister Church Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana de Oakland, part of which we use for a little zero interest micro lending bank for refugees and others in need. Using this model, we have been blessed to help many with housing needs, work tools, transportation, health care, legal costs, and new business growth. We appreciate “Little Central America” bringing this beautiful story to light and feel God has blessed us to be a part of it. Welcome to St. Johns – Come as you are.
ABOUT CIRCUIT NETWORK
Founded in 1984, Circuit Network is a non-profit producer and artists’ service organization dedicated to fostering the development of contemporary dance, theater, music and performing artists who are creating work of high artistic caliber, deep social import and wide cultural impact. Circuit implements its mission by developing partnerships between artists and communities, booking engagements, providing project development and management services, and producing events locally in the San Francisco Bay Area with our roster artists and ensembles. Circuit provides services to several artists and projects, including Culture Clash, Ruben Martinez, Dan Wolf and Bay Area Theatre Cypher, culture jammer John Law, the annual San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Sara Shelton Mann’s Mixed Bag Productions, and clown actor/writer Sara Toby Moore, among others.
SUPPORT
Little Central America, 1984 was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This project was supported by a National Performance Network (NPN) Artist Engagement Fund, with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information, visit www.npnweb.org.