Global Latinidades Center Inaugurates a Community Theater Project, Historias de Isla Vista/Stories of Isla Vista

Joining the Global Latinidades Center’s list of initiatives, Historias de Isla Vista/Stories of Isla Vista is a community theater workshop that extends the long history of Latinx theater programs at UCSB and the local community. Students from UCSB and the local community will conduct oral histories of Isla Vista’s diverse residents to craft short plays that delve into the often-overlooked Latinx working-class and precarious houseless segments of the community in Isla Vista, which is typically perceived as being dominated by UCSB students. The workshop aims to highlight the significant role Latinx men and women play in managing the town's restaurants, stores, and infrastructure in addition to UCSB’s vast operations such as residence halls, facilities, and grounds. Earning course credit, students will learn the essential components of playwriting and community organization, while in dialogue with Isla Vista’s diverse community. The course will conclude with a staged reading hosted at Global Latinidades’ inaugural HIstorias de Isla Vista/Stories of Isla Vista Community Event. For this initiative, the Global Latinidades Center will partner with UCSB Emeritus Professor and Chicano Playwright Carlos Morton and PhD student Mayra Gomez-Labrada from UCSB’s Theater, Dance, and Performance Department. The main course for this pilot project will be offered in two different quarters—Summer Session B and the Fall Quarter of 2025. Stay tuned for more information!

During his time as a Professor of Playwriting, Dr. Carlos Morton directed a traveling Latinx theater troupe–Teatro Tour–that performed around Santa Barbara High Schools. With high success, Morton’s students wrote, acted, choreographed, designed and staged original work for the broader community. Historias de Isla Vista/Stories of Isla Vista builds on Morton’s past Teatro Tour to redirect our attention to community organization and community action. Beyond amplifying underrepresented voices through the arts, this initiative blends education and entertainment with community action and organization to train socially engaged humanists. Our center is excited to collaborate once again with Global Latinidades Center Fellow Mayra Gomez-Labrada, who previously was an Intern in the Global Latinidades Center’s International Theater Workshop in Vancouver, Canada with Chilean-Canadian Playwright Carmen Aguirre. Gomez-Labrada, recently was production manager and director of UCSB’s highly successful staging of Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, also sponsored by the Global Latinidades Center. Mayra blends dramaturgy (theater history) and community organization to promote community and artistic engagement at the local level.

Return to our website for more information. This two-year initiative is partially funded by the Robert and Liisa Erickson Presidential Chair in English, the English Department’s John Arnhold Collaborative Research Initiative Grant, University of California Office of the President’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives, and the UCSB English Department.