A new staged reading series called “Nuevo Mundo”, created in partnership with TeatroDallas, celebrates the global South with productions selected and directed by local creatives.
The series opened with their first production “Choke” on March 4 at the Dallas Latino Cultural Center.
A refinery fills the air with hazardous pollutants, threatening the health and livelihoods of those in its vicinity. Residents are faced with a grim decision: leave, or take a gamble with their lives. And for the most vulnerable among them, there is no choice but to stay.

“Choke”, written by Los Angeles playwright Emilio Infante, follows a Latino family in SouthTexas as they grapple with the consequences of generational trauma, environmental racism, and machismo. Director Alexandra Hernandez, who is also the program manager for Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, says this play operates at an important intersection between the arts and activism.
“I'm hoping that it does spark something,” Hernandez said. “Even if it's just people learning more about what's going on in their communities, even if they don't get politically active, if they don't get connected to an organization—that they feel the importance of being educated.

Too often, matters of environmental justice are viewed with an observational eye rather than with meaningful concern. Hernandez said.
These are issues that disproportionately affect low-income families and communities of color, but that should alarm everyone. Hernandez aims to remove that disconnection through this work.

The reading was followed by a community engagement panel in which members of the neighborhood association Singleton United/Unidos addressed the underlying theme of environmental racism and its historical prevalence in West Dallas—particularly in their fight against the asphalt factory GAF.
“It becomes: what is happening in our communities? What is happening to the people that live next door to us?” Hernandez said. “It's the air that we breathe. It doesn't just stay in one zipcode.”

Nuevo Mundo series continues for two more weeks at the Latino Cultural Center. 7 p.m.: complimentary wine reception; 7:30 p.m.: Reading begins.
March 11th, "Littlelamb," by Bella O’Brien, directed by Shyama Nithiananda
March 18th, "Noche y Niebla," by Jaime Chabaud, directed by Kike Castañeda. This production is presented in Spanish only.