TEMPE, AZ.: Starting Saturday April 14 at 9:30 AM Arizona time, New Play TV live streams “NoPassport’s” 2012 “Dreaming the Americans” conference, taking place April 13 to 15 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.  Visit www.newplaytv.info.
Opening remarks by the conference planners, which is the first livestreamed event, starts on Saturday, April 14 at 9:30am PDT / 11:30am CDT / 12:30pm EDT / 16:30 GMT / 17:30 (London) / 18:30 (Berlin) / 22:00 (Mumbai).
NoPassport theatre alliance and press is primarily a Latino/a-center collective and independent literary press. So the appearance of NoPassport in Arizona marks a significant moment given Arizona’s new law authorizing local police to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being in the United States illegally. The law has generated sharp debate between advocates who say it is needed to combat illegal immigration, and opponents who say it is an infringement on civil liberties and an invitation to racial/ethnic profiling of Hispanics by the police. Some say the law will create tensions between police and Hispanics that will hinder general law enforcement.
Hispanics and Latino/as continue to face discrimination today. A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found that nearly one-in-four (23%) Americans said Hispanics are discriminated against “a lot” in society today, a share higher than observed for any other group. This represents a change from 2001, when blacks were seen as the racial/ethnic group discriminated against the most in society. Then, one-in-four (25%) Americans said blacks were discriminated against “a lot,” while 19% said the same about Hispanics.
The theme of this year’s NoPassport conference is “Re:Connecting — Translocalities in Performance.” It may sound academic, I know, and the location of the three-day event is indeed a university, but the problems are urgent, and the event is open to the public. Moreover, the turmoil is being fought in the minds and hearts of students, teachers and universities. People don’t like “the other,” and in times of great discontent, the minority group de jour is victimized as being the source of all the problems. In Arizona, ethnic studies programs have been ruled illegal. An administrative law judge in Tucson ruled that a Mexican-American Studies program in the district as a violation of state laws, allegedly because the program has one or more classes designed primarily for one ethnic group, promoting racial resentment and advocating ethnic solidarity instead of treating students as individuals.
The judge, who found grounds to withhold 10 percent of the district’s monthly state aid until it comes into compliance, said the law permits the objective instruction about the oppression of people that may result in racial resentment or ethnic solidarity.
One of the goals of this NoPassport conference is to assess and discuss the role of theatre and the arts in bringing fresh light to these urgent issues. The organizers say, “We consider how the movements of peoples and ideas, metaphorically and literally in border-crossings of many kinds, have worked to shape the contemporary moment for theatre makers, producers and audiences.”
This year’s conference is sponsored by NoPassport theatre alliance and press, and hosted by the Theatre and Performance of the Americas program of the Arizona State University School of Theatre and Film, in association with Performance in the Borderlands, an initiative of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University-Tempe. Additional support comes from the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, Tucson’s Borderlands Theater and PASOS Peace Museum. NoPassport is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas.
The annual NoPassport Conference assembles theatre scholars, critics and
playwrights from across the Americas to dream, discuss and perform about
social, economic and political justice issues and their relation to theatre.  NoPassport was founded six years ago in New York City, its traditional  home, by playwright Caridad Svich. Svich’s adaptation of Isabel Allende’s famous novel, The House of the Spirits, runs concurrently at ASU Tempe’s Galvin Playhouse.
NoPassport events include panel discussions with noted theatre scholars and playwrights and a keynote address by award-winning Chicano performance artist and playwright Luis Alfaro.
Theatrical events feature Brian Herrera’s I Was the Voice of Democracy (http://asuevents.asu.edu/i-was-voice-democracy) on Friday, April 13; The House of the Spirits (http://asuevents.asu.edu/house-spirits-caridad-svich-1) on Saturday, April 14 and a command performance Sunday, April 15 of Borderland Theatre of Tuscon’s No Roosters in the Desert (http://asuevents.asu.edu/no-roosters-desert) , which was presented in Phoenix by ASU last year.
The conference will also debut playwright Elaine Avila’s new collection of plays, entitled JANE AUSTEN, ACTION FIGURE and other plays. A collection of thought-provoking, adventurous feminist plays that push at theatrical form, explore gender and identity, and human life on this planet, the book contains an introduction by American director Ted Gregory and an afterword by Canadian director Kathleen Weiss.
Conference Co-Planners:Â Tamara Underiner (tamara.underiner@asu.edu), Micha Espinosa (micha.espinosa@asu.edu), and doctoral students in Theatre and Performance of the Americas (ASU)
Conference Steering Committee:Â Elaine Avila, Daniel Banks, Brian Herrera, Oliver Mayer, Jeff McMahon, Anne Garcia-Romero, Jon Rossini, Roberto Gutierrez Varea
Registration:Â $25 two-day pass
Student rate only: $5.00
All conference pre-registration is via donation online at www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623.
Conference Locations and interactive maps:
Lyceum Theatre and Lobby, Arizona State University-Tempe. http://www.asu.edu/map/interactive/?campus=tempe&building=LYC
PAUL V. GALVIN PLAYHOUSE: for Saturday evening performance of House of the Spirits: http://www.asu.edu/map/interactive/?campus=tempe&building=FAC
NOTE: Theatre tickets for Friday and Saturday evening performances can be purchased through the Herberger Box Office at http://theatrefilm.asu.edu/events/. Priority seating for those who reserve tickets by April 1 (details below)
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DREAMING THE AMERICASÂ NoPassport Conference 2012Â
Program at a Glance
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FRIDAY APRIL 13
Noon - 2 p.m.  MU Union Stage
Scholar/Artist Brian Herrera meets with graduate students about balancing scholarship and art. Sponsored by AATSS, the Arizona Association for Theatre Scholarship and Service and GPSA. Light lunch.
Â
7:30 p.m. Lyceum Theatre
Join Brian Herrera and special local guests for an evening of theatre:
I Was the Voice of Democracy.
______________________________
SATURDAY APRIL 14
Lyceum Theatre
9 - 9:30 a.m. Coffee, registration
www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623
9:30 a.m.  WelcomeÂ
10 a.m.  PANEL:Translocalities/Interdisciplinarities.
Moderated by Jon Rossini (UCDavis)
Featuring:Â Â Marivel Danielson (ASU), David William Foster (ASU), Tiffany Ana Lopez (UC Riverside), Eric Mayer-Garcia (Louisiana State), Robert Neustadt (NAU), Kindra Steenerson (Coker College), Claudia Villegas-Silva (ASU West).
NOON:Â Â KEYNOTE ADD
RESSLuis Alfaro (USC), introduced by Ramon Rivera-Servera (Northwestern). Luis Alfaro is a Chicano writer/performer known for his work in poetry, theatre, short stories, performance and journalism. He is also a producer/director who spent ten years at t
he Mark Taper Forum as Associate Producer, Director of New Play Development and co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative.
1 p.m. LUNCH BREAK (offsite)
2:30 p.m. PANEL:
Emerging Scholar Work Sessionfeaturing the work in progress of graduate students in the Theatre and Performance of the Americas Program/
Moderated by Laurelann Porter
Featuring:Â Â Benilda Beretta, Tabitha Chester, Michelle Hill, Jayson Morrison, and Erica Ocegueda.
4 p.m. PANEL:
Community-Based Workshop:Â Â Art and Activism
Moderated by Roberto Varea (USF)
Featuring Jeff McMahon (ASU) Stacie Chaiken (What’s Your Story, LA), and Carla Melo (ASU).
6 p.m. DINNERÂ BREAK (Offsite)Â
7:30 p.m. The House of the Spirits, an ASU Mainstage production featuring the adaptation of Isabel Allende’s famous novel by Caridad Svich.  At the GALVIN PLAYHOUSE at ASU Tempe.
______________________________
SUNDAY APRIL 15
Lyceum Theatre
10 a.m. Coffee, Registration, and NOPE Press Book TableÂ
_www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623_
(http://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623)
10:30 a.m. PLAYWRIGHTS PANEL:
Broader Lands: Wrighting the Southwest. Moderated by Anne
Garcia-Romero (Notre Dame) and Otis Ramsey-Zoe (NOPE editor). Featuring Luis Alfaro, Elaine Avila (UNM), Kara Hartzler (Florence, AZ), Oliver Mayer (USC), Toni
Press-Coffman (Tucson), and Guillermo Reyes (ASU).
Noon: Command Performance:Â
No Roosters in the Desert_ (http://asuevents.asu.edu/no-roosters-desert) .
Join us for a special re-staging of Tucson’s Borderland Theatre’s
award-winning play by Kara Hartzler, based on fieldwork by Anna Ochoa O’Leary.
Directed by Barclay Goldsmith. Free.
1:20 p.m.: QUICK LUNCH in Lyceum Lobby (provided). Grab a bite and
discuss the show.
2 p.m. PANEL:
Global Horizons: W/righting the West/East Coast and Politicized Bodies.
Moderated by Bianca Bagatourian (Pres. Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance).
Featuring Ed Mast (, Joe Peracchio, Marcos Najera and more TBA!
3:30 p.m. FOCUSED PLĂ?TICA: Capital Flows
Moderated by B
rian Herrera (UNM) with lead speaker Paul Bonin-Rodriguez(UT Austin). Public invited to think adventurously about current systems of
�capital flow’ within the arts & humanities.
4.45 p.m. PANEL:
The Politics of Planning. Moderated by Daniel Banks (DNAWORKS, Santa
Fe). Featuring Elaine Avila (UNM), Roberto Bedoya (Tucson Arts Council),
Kathryn Ervin (CSSB), Mary Stephens and Tamara Underiner (ASU).
6 p.m. DINNER BREAK (offsite)
7:30 p.m. FLOR y CANTO: Writers’ Slam. FAC 131.
9 p.m. Clausura/Closing
2:30 p.m. PANEL:
Emerging Scholar Work Sessionfeaturing the work in progress of graduate students in the Theatre and Performance of the Americas Program/
Moderated by Laurelann PorterFeaturing:Â Â Benilda Beretta, Tabitha Chester, Michelle Hill, Jayson Morrison, and Erica Ocegueda.
4 p.m. PANEL:
Community-Based Workshop:Â Â Art and Activism
Moderated by Roberto Varea (USF)
Featuring Jeff McMahon (ASU) Stacie Chaiken (What’s Your Story, LA), and Carla Melo (ASU).
6 p.m. DINNER BREAK (Offsite)
7:30 p.m. The House of the Spirits, an ASU Mainstage production featuring the adaptation of Isabel Allende’s famous novel by Caridad Svich.  At the GALVIN PLAYHOUSE at ASU Tempe.
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