Traversing to Laredo, Going From Here to There

Chapter 1 is organized by plays situated specifically in Laredo, TX. Section 1 is grouped by the themes of interethnic relationships (“My Little Mexican,” “Spaghetti Is Straight … Until It’s Hot,” and “Fashionably Late”). Section 2 is gathered around the subject of death (“ El Novenario de Tia Mine /Aunt Minerva’s Nine Days of Mourning,” “ La Visita /The Visit,” and “Terminal Velocity”). In section 3, the plays are assembled in the idea of personhood in the face of surgery, identity, and language. Relationships, cessation, and a milieu of forces push and pull on the protagonists’ lives. As a result, collaboration among couples, one’s relationship with death, and transformation from internal and external sources give us a picture of life in the city of Laredo.