Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin

Teatro

Center for Art and Cultural Empowerment

Story by Bianca Rawlings | Photos by Felicia Frazar & submitted by Alphonso Rincon

In 1970, Vickie De La Rosa moved to Seguin as a middle school math teacher at the newly integrated Ball Jr. High School. De La Rosa grew up and graduated high school in Crystal City, Texas. “Crystal City High School produced the biggest walkouts of students because the Mexican American students there were their largest population, and they had no representation or rights,” she said. Unfortunately, this political action did not come until De La Rosa was in college, but she was able to bear witness to the change that she knew was badly needed in her hometown.

“I felt all the racism and all the discrimination while I was in that high school and town of Crystal City,” De La Rosa said.

Despite the daily discrimination she faced, her family support and sense of self was so strong that she was able to take the negativity and transform it into positivity.

“When I arrived in Seguin ISD it was a bit of a cultural shock, because the majority of the students, almost 70%, were Anglo,” She said.

Even in the Mexican American community, there was a lack of culture. De La Rosa would go to fiestas and felt they were devoid of culture, they were simply a party with lots of drinking, eating, and letting loose. She knew she needed to take action and tightly hold onto the rich culture of her ancestors for herself and her children.

She integrated herself into Our Lady Guadalupe Catholic Church, which was near Ball Jr. High and was in the part of town where many of the children she taught lived in. She got to know the students and their families outside of school through the church. De La Rosa said, “that this started to fill the void that she had been feeling.”

As she came to know more people and places in Seguin, she came to discover the area where Teatro is now located which was known as “Mexico Chico” and was full of culture, she said. During the fiestas here, people would proudly stand up on the platform and give speeches, recite poetry, and prose. There was a flame burning within the community here and she knew she wanted her children to have pride in their culture.

De La Rosa was driving her children to San Antonio for Folklorico and Flamenco classes when she realized, “this doesn’t make any sense, there are people here willing to do something.”

She talked to her principal and proposed bringing in representations of Hispanic culture for her students.

“He listened,” she said, “and brought in Spaniard dancers for the next regular assembly put on by the Southern Assembly Company.”

During the dance, De La Rosa realized how mesmerized all the students were by the beautiful culture and dance. This is where her idea for a center for art and culture was first formed.

By 1979, she had a connection with the community and the parents. When she began meeting with her students’ parents and the Hispanic community leaders to present her idea for a cultural and art center in Seguin, they embraced the idea with open arms. Even though there was some fear of backlash for promoting their ancestry, the Hispanic community needed this representation and reminder of their history.

After two years of meeting, De La Rosa rallied her husband and her sister to start Teatro in 1982 which they immediately gifted back to the community. They created a diverse board of directors which focused on educating the community about Mexican American culture through programs such as Folklorico, Flamenco, and more.

Today, Teatro De Artes De Juan Seguin is a steady source of inspiration for so many. Nearly 40 years since its inception, Teatro has grown from a grassroot effort into the beacon of culture and community that it is today.

The founders knew for Teatro to be truly successful in reviving the vibrant Hispanic culture, it would need to be passed on through the generations. It is apparent that this goal has been achieved when looking at Teatro’s current board members and staff.

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Sulema Silva, Teatro’s current Board President, oversees the Ballet Folklorico and costume coordination. She started going to the center in 2009 as a mother seeking dance lessons for her son. “Teatro raised me from a dance room mom to a president…that Teatro grew me into a different type of leader.” she said.

Silva echoed the founder’s mission of education and inclusion, “What we do at Teatro is we grow our leaders, we teach not only our students but our parents,” she said, “so we are not just an ‘I’ organization but a ‘we’ organization.”

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New Braunfels resident Lizzette Molina-Smith’s three children, who have attended classes for two years, said she feels fully embraced by the Teatro family.

“They have learned about even more than their ancestry, they have learned about responsibility, discipline, and time management,” Molina-Smith has learned things about her culture that she didn’t know, and it has felt like she’s gained something she didn’t even know was missing. She feels empowered and accepted by Teatro and hopes to pass on that feeling to her children and their families to come.

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Alejandro L. Guerra, Teatro’s current Program Coordinator, started out as a student at Teatro. Thanks to the mentors he had there, Guerra said he grew into a confident and capable young man. Guerra moved to Austin for college to study architecture, but said he never forgot about Teatro.

When he got a call from the xxecutive director about a position becoming available, he jumped at the chance. In his current position, he feels like it has come full circle and he has become a mentor himself. Guerra uses his graphic design skills to create art for Teatro and said the process felt very natural and fulfilling, including a collage featured at Teatro’s front desk.

“Putting together that collage was fun because it has the founders, the instructors, everybody that’s been involved,” he said, “it is a big picture of who Teatro is.” The image includes many pictures of people who were key to Teatro’s success and is framed by the image of a dress that was once worn by Executive Director Yvonne De La Rosa when she was a child. The collage was created for Yvonne’s dissertation and encompasses the many compelling voices of her research partners. It is a great expression of how Teatro connects so many individuals through art and beyond.

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Carla Medina, a current Mariachi instructor and former student, feels like her experience with Teatro has come full circle. She started with Teatro in the third grade through her school’s music program, Ballet Folklorico Residency with Teatro, and went on to practice Mariachi in high school.

“Mariachi is the best of all the arts, you get to play an instrument which is the band or orchestra piece, you get to sing which is the choir piece, but you get to perform which is the theater part of it,” Medina said. She felt so connected to her culture and her family through Mariachi.

Her son has also learned Mariachi through Teatro and she is so grateful for the connection he now has to her and their culture through this form of art. Medina saw generations of her family brought together by music. “My grandpa, before he passed, would drive an hour to see me perform. A couple times a year because it meant so much to him.” She will always cherish the moments and conversations she had with her grandpa because of their shared love of Mariachi, especially once her son came along and could share that love with her and his great-grandfather.

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The current Executive Director of Teatro, Yvonne De La Rosa, has a big vision for the center. She hopes to bring in a new era of cultural appreciation through art and storytelling.

“Our elders have done the true work of Teatro…and they have put us on a pedestal to grow people…and we can already see the children who are those future leaders.” She wants to nurture these leaders to grow into a larger representation of art forms in Teatro. In the future, Yvonne said she sees the programs growing to include theatre, visual arts, and storytelling…with a focus on cultural reproduction and understanding.

She applauded the leaps Teatro has made over the years and recognized the strides they still have to go. Teatro will continue to connect with local and regional intellects such as historians and lecturers in order to grow and preserve the Mexican American culture, ensuring it is passed down from generation to generation. Yvonne knows Teatro’s work must remain resilient and involve the community in its efforts, she aims to make Teatro a tourism and humanities staple known throughout Texas.

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Teatro celebrates it’s 40th anniversary this year with a gallery, multiple community events. Teatro’s leaders, staff, and founders have instilled a sense of cultural pride in the hearts of hundreds of youths in and around Seguin. They continue to work tirelessly to fill the cultural void that so many Mexican American families feel when surrounded by a society that seeks to strip them of their identities.

Since the beginning, Teatro has been a labor of love and learning. It was formed to preserve a culture that is too vibrant to be forgotten and moved by a selfless desire to educate and share that culture with people of all backgrounds.