The one-man show, “This Is Not an Immigrant Story,” will come to Aspen as part of the six “Solo Flights” that Theatre Aspen will present from Sept. 8–11.
The show, taking the stage at 7pm, Sept. 8, and 4pm, Sept. 11,
will be the only one of the six performances to include a portion in Spanish. Reza Salazar, star of the one-man show, explains that approximately 10% of the performance will be in Spanish and 90% in English. Through theater, faces and sounds, the story tells itself.
Salazar describes it as “a very compelling story that connects with a lot of people. We all have a mother or someone who has taken care of us.”
The story follows his experience with his mother, working as clowns throughout South America. “It’s a story of survival and resilience,” he said.
Salazar continued, “It’s a love story, learning how to love my mother. When all those things from the past come back to us. To heal, cure and transform that mother-
and-son relationship, I started writing this story to learn how to love her at this stage of our lives.”
In this one-man show, Salazar will portray several characters, including his mother.
He explains that the performance was born from “the feeling that all the stories of my mother and me were going to be forgotten, and all those identities, adventures, very beautiful stories, celebrations and pains.”
The title also holds an important meaning for Salazar.
“The word immigrant has be-
come something so dangerous, so stained,” he said. “One of the reasons I was inspired to write this story is to define what an immigrant is.”
For Salazar, migration is part of the history of humanity.
“Human beings have survived by migrating to take care of ourselves, our families and our community. We have always been in constant transformation,” he said.
He continued, “It’s a rescue. Sometimes we put people on a one-dimensional plane, and we are three-dimensional. We love, we want to work, we have fears and we get angry.”
His goal with his one-man show is “to give a little bit of focus to that. There is more in common between us as human beings and with immigrants as well than there are differences.”
Salazar wants to keep his audience captivated throughout the 90-minute performance.
“Imagine having a very diverse audience, different walks of life, social statuses. For 90 minutes, being able to listen to a story that everyone can connect with in some way.”
What is a one-man show?
For Salazar, the answer lies in the very essence of theater.
“In its purest essence, this is my philosophy of theater: it’s connection, communication, storytelling. At its most basic, we do it every day without knowing,” he said. “You’re telling a story and it’s the most basic thing. It’s something very natural for us Latinos, especially. We are always telling stories.”
As he talked about his memories of Latin America, Salazar recalled a simple scene that, for him, represents the essence of theater.
“I remember in the parks, a person surrounded by people, and you don’t need lights or music, just one human being making 30 people around him laugh,” he said.
For Salazar, that image captures what he hopes to bring to the stage in Aspen.
“That is the essence of what I am doing. One human being, me, for 90 minutes in Aspen, in a theater with very few lights.”
According to Theatre Aspen, “The festival features a ‘Pay what you will’ ticket structure for the matinee performances, starting at just $15 per show, as well as passes and individual tickets.”
Theatre Aspen will welcome six artists during the weekend of Sept. 8–11. For more information, visit theatreaspen.org/events/solo-flights
Translation assisted by AI.