Santa Ana's 'Stories of the Heart' Debuts Next Weekend

Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble helps city locals to share the songs, stories and corridos of the community.

Workshop participants with Breath of Fire's lead artists for one of the "Cantos, Cuentos and Corridos of Santa Ana" workshops hosted this past spring and summer. Photo courtesy of Breath of Fire

The tragic story of how Sara Guerrero’s family arrived in Santa Ana is one of the corridos, or Mexican narrative songs, featured in a free performance at Grand Central Art Center next weekend.

Guerrero, the founding artistic director of Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, has taken the centuries-old art form of Mexican ballads called corridos and infused it with a modern-day twist of bilingual content and various genres.

“Cantos, Cuentos and Corridos of Santa Ana: Stories of the Heart” shares the songs, stories and corridos of the city’s locals in two one-hour performances at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 8.

What originally began with three months of workshops across the city at schools and community centers has now culminated in this show. A few hundred participants began their corridos during the project and about 15 kids and adults agreed to perform their work.

A corrido has eight stanzas with four lines, of about seven to 10 syllables each (the sweet spot is eight syllables), according to Guerrero. Rhyming lines two and four is ideal but not required. Like every good story, there is a beginning, conflict and resolution.

“My mom was one of eight children, and her brother visited Santa Ana in the summer of 1964,” Guerrero said. “He saw potential and opportunity here and when my uncle returned to El Paso, he was telling his whole family to go to California.”

The family didn’t want to pull up its roots, and stayed in Texas. One night, the whole family went to the movies, but Guerrero’s uncle, who was 19 at the time, stayed home. The family came home to find the family dog frantically barking, and her uncle brutally beaten by an intruder. Normally the dog roamed free, but was tied up that evening so as to not disturb the cattle. Her uncle went into a coma and didn’t survive the attack.

The family never wanted to live in that home again since his death, and so family members packed up their bags and moved to Santa Ana. Guerrero will be performing her corrido as a solo act.

Shanelle Darlene of Aliso Viejo is also one of the performers. Originally from the Coachella Valley, she attended UC Irvine and is a part of the vibrant Santa Ana arts community. The Mexican American actress and songwriter wrote a corrido about Alex Odeh, a Palestinian activist who was killed by a bomb on Oct. 11, 1985 at the office of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee on 17th Street in Santa Ana.

“Growing up you become memorialized through these corridos,” Darlene said. “It’s either someone you're doing it for, or sometimes it's just for fun.”

PHOTO 1: From left, Elvia Susana Rubalcava, community writer (and executive director of the Fullerton Museum Center), works with Moises Vázquez as another participant/writer, Joey Hotta, listens. PHOTO 2: Participant/writer Rachel Diaz works on their song with Moises Vázquez, music director and composer. PHOTO 3: Rocio Salazar, left, shares at the workshop, seated next to Daniel Vincente. Both are workshop participants. PHOTO 4: Breath of Fire's literary director and teaching artist Diana Burbano leads a section of the workshop. PHOTO 5: Breath of Fire's workshop at Latino Health Access with their promotoras (volunteers). Photos courtesy of Breath of Fire

The Breath of Fire performance will span different genres of music from cumbia to son jarocho (Mexican folk), and also different topics. The workshops were originally offered in English and Spanish and organically moved into bilingual songs.

“We are taking a 300-year-old art form and bringing it into modern times,” said Angela Apodaca, Breath of Fire artistic associate. “We want to empower them to take it anywhere they like. If you’re a poet, or do spoken word, or if you love punk etc., it can be transformed.”

Moises Vázquez, the music director and composer for the project, taught workshops at Santa Ana High School for the theater students. He also teaches music at the Orange County Educational Arts Academy (OCEAA). While participants learned how to write songs, Vázquez helped them set it to music.

He was surprised by how open the community was to share their stories of tragedy, triumph and comedy.

“We asked, what are the stories you would like to tell about Santa Ana?” he said. “Some of the stories were funny. Some of them are what school is about, everyday stress and songs about their family.”

Guerrero started Breath of Fire in 2003 and officially incorporated it as a nonprofit in 2007. The city is nearly 80% Latino and when the Santa Ana resident wanted to start a theater company, she knew the city was the place she wanted to do it. She is also a faculty member in the theater department at Cal State Fullerton.

This project is sponsored in part by the city of Santa Ana’s 2023-2024 Investing in the Artist Grant Revive Award and the Latino Theater Company’s National Latinx Theater Initiative General Operating Support Grant Award 2023-2025.

The grant that made the project was specifically slated to promote the arts in Santa Ana.

“It's the people,” said Guerrero. “I love leaving my house and as I go through my community connecting with people unexpectedly I know. There is something special about Santa Ana; there is heart here.”

The participants

MUSICIANS: Ruby Castellano and Moises Vazquez

WRITERS/PERFORMERS: Angela Apodaca, Shanelle Darlene, Cici De La Riva, Devin, Rachel Diaz, Cindy El, Joese Gloria, Sara Guerrero, Roberto Carlos Herrera, Colby Muñoz Hurdle

ADDITIONAL WRITERS: Adriana Alba, Dorian Romero, Elvia Susana Rubalcava, Debra Gomez Russel, Mercy Vasquez (director)