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     Last April 2022, we met by a cemetery, lost and confused, trying to find our way to our first day on set for a Chapman Thesis called BEAUTIFUL DREAMER. We hadn’t met before, but somehow immediately knew that we were working together.

     Over six days, we got to know each other and played cousins in a heart wrenching short film about the struggles of being a Dreamer and yearning to come back to your home country but feeling that you don’t belong in either country fully. The heart of all of the team, especially our director, Jose M. Verdejo, and our producer, Elias Aguiar Montani, were to create a story that could catalyze change. Jose and Elias always spoke kindly and passionately about the power of story and the responsibility of storytellers. The safety net that they created on set gave us the power to be vulnerable with each other and the rest of the team.

     Right after the last day of shooting, we met for boba. We had a fun time together during BEAUTIFUL DREAMER and talked about our journeys as storytellers and the stories we still wanted to tell. The story we kept coming back to was what would eventually become EL PASO.

     Maria is from El Paso, TX, and the El Paso Walmart Shooting in 2019 deeply affected her and her hometown. She couldn’t understand why someone would do something so inhumane and felt that things needed to change. She vented all of this to Desiree. This was a real life event, and she knew that there was a story there. Over the years since the shooting, she had come up with ideas and thoughts of how to tell that story: a play idea for her acting class and a manifesto for a voice and speech class.

     Desiree really responded to all of this: She is a fellow first-gen Latina, and she knew the hurt and the dangers of racism and gun violence. She was born in South Central LA, which has unfortunately suffered many years of systemic racism and neglect. Growing up there, gunshots were common. When they moved from South Central to the Inland Empire, they went to a primarily White, conservative high school, which was one of the first times that they realized how racist and bigoted the world could be.

     When they connected over this story, Maria brought the facts, and Desiree brought the family angle, the unique structure, and the heart of the play. Together, they pulled their passion, love, and tears. They’re both sad bitches with a heart for change.

         So that’s how EL PASO started. A short film and a boba meet up. Desiree forgot their wallet; Maria pulled through. (Desiree still owes Maria six dollars for the boba).

With gratitude,

Maria De Los Angeles and Desiree Marisol Carcamo

Co-Creators of EL PASO

Left to Right: Maria and Desiree on the set of BEAUTIFUL DREAMER (April 2022)