hicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago
Destinos, 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, returns September 14-October 16, 2022. Chicago International Latino Theater Festival
hicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago
Destinos, 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, returns September 14-October 16, 2022. Chicago International Latino Theater Festival

We’re in the final week of the Chicago International Latino Theater’s Destinos Festival. The fifth annual citywide program brings together performers from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America. 

It’s the first festival since the death of the theater alliance’s co-founder, Myrna Salazar.

To talk about Myrna and the festival overall, Sara Carranza with the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance joined WBEZ’s Araceli Gomez-Aldana.

hicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago
Destinos, 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, returns September 14-October 16, 2022. Chicago International Latino Theater Festival
hicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago
Destinos, 5th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, Chicago’s annual citywide festival showcasing Latino theater artists and companies from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America, returns September 14-October 16, 2022. Chicago International Latino Theater Festival

We’re in the final week of the Chicago International Latino Theater’s Destinos Festival. The fifth annual citywide program brings together performers from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America. 

It’s the first festival since the death of the theater alliance’s co-founder, Myrna Salazar.

To talk about Myrna and the festival overall, Sara Carranza with the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance joined WBEZ’s Araceli Gomez-Aldana.

Araceli Gomez-Aldana: We're in the final week of the Chicago International Latino Theater's Destinos Festival, the fifth annual citywide program brings together performers from Chicago, the U.S. and Latin America. It's the first festival since the death of the Theater Alliance's co founder, Myrna Salazar. Joining me today to talk about Myrna and the festival overall is Sara Carranza with the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance. Sara first, can you describe who Myrna Salazar was?

Sara Carranza: Myrna Salazar is a woman that I don't think anyone can really fully describe. But almost every time that we open a show, I can just imagine her entering the room and and really just making her presence known and letting everyone know how proud she is that Latino theater is, is as strong as it is. She was a godmother to Latino theater, she was a mentor to those who worked alongside her. She was just an indescribable, amazing, spectacular woman.

Araceli Gomez-Aldana: Can you talk a little bit about, you know what she was able to do here in Chicago? I feel like she was obviously an advocate for representation of Latinos in all platforms.

Sara Carranza: So Myrna had extensive knowledge in the arts industry. And one of the things that I think that is really part of her genius is that when she started Destinos Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, she knew that in order to give Latino theater a leg up, or the spotlight that they've long deserved, that we would have to do it as a team. She got the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance and the International Latino Cultural Center to come together to really create this organization to elevate our work. So, for that reason we have at least this year 10 local companies that are producing local Latino theater work, which is quite amazing in the scope of things. That's something that's really a testament to Myrna and her work.

Araceli Gomez-Aldana: Yeah, it's grown so much, and Destinos is in full swing and it's bigger than ever. There are some Spanish only performances this year and it's expanded to the suburbs.

Sara Carranza: You know, honestly, the bigger we get, it kind of goes alongside the fact that we are such a huge population in the Chicago land area, and we have too many different voices. Yes, we do have Spanish speaking performances, which is something that we're very proud of. And with that we also make sure that those Spanish speaking performances have English supertitles. So that folks who don't speak Spanish can still feel included and still see this amazing work.

Araceli Gomez-Aldana: That's great. And of course we are in October and Destinos continues through October 16th. For our listeners that still want to get in on the action if they haven't done so, what's still to come?

Sara Carranza: Oh, we just opened Evolution of a Sonero over at UrbanTheater Company. It's a wonderful one man show that also features a band called The Razor Blades. And it's about his journey and evolution as an artist as told through salsa and bolero, and amazing spoken word poetry. 

We've also got Aguijón Theater out in Belmont Cragin, with a story about - Frida Kahlo met Juana Inés de la Cruz, who is a world renowned 16th century nun who created so many beautiful works of art. We also have The Wizards by Ricardo Gamboa and his new company called Concrete Content, which will be at the APO Cultural Center on the South Side. And that's basically where a couple moves back to Chicago and they find a Ouija board that introduces them to a 1970s Southside Motown cover band. And the the amount of work, and the shows that are still running, it's worth giving it all a shot.

Araceli Gomez-Aldana: I mean I'm sold, I am sold on that one. That is, they're all very interesting. I can't wait. That's Sarah Carranza, the director of communications at the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance. You're listening to WBEZ.


WBEZ transcripts are generated by an automatic speech recognition service. We do our best to edit for misspellings and typos, but mistakes do come through.