Borderless Imagination

Imaginación sin Fronteras

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Borderless Imagination

Imaginación Sin Fronteras

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Yamel Cucuy

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"Xavier" Photo by Uli Garcia
"Yamel" Photo by Uli Garcia

Yamel Cucuy is the story of a girl on the precipice of adulthood, contending with the physical and metaphysical violence of borders.  Yamel is hunted by immigration agents while haunted by specters from the folklore of her youth in Mexico. 

On the shadowy frontier between worlds, she forges her own spirit of courage and wisdom, in the refusal to be “taken away,” either by legendary phantoms or agents of human law. Blending sophisticated puppetry with live actors, Yamel Cucuy draws upon frightening folk tales and modern horror movies to create a terrifying psychological landscape of pitfalls both legal and spiritual. 

Created for adult audiences. Teens welcome.

Script by Caroline Reck, Indigo Rael, and Gricelda Silva with additional text contributions from Jesus Valles & Connor Hopkins

Direction by Caroline Reck
Assistant Direction by Gricelda Silva

Lighting by Rachel Atkinson

Sound by K. Eliot Haynes

Spirit Costumes by Annie Ulrich

Prop Design by Indigo Rael

Original Score by Paul Piñon

Mágica & Mictlan Consulting by Alexis Arredondo

Performed by Diana Guizado, Gustavo Martinez, Minerva Villa, Marina DeYoe-Pedraza, Michael Galván, Antonio Medrano, Zac Carr

Production Management, Graphic Design, and Marketing by Khristian Mendez Aguirre

Photography by Lens of Athena Photography

September 14 – 22, 2018 –
Dougherty Arts Center, Austin, TX
(as The Cucuy Project)

October 21 – November 5, 2022 –
Ground Floor Theatre, Austin TX

October 11 – 19, 2024
Ground Floor Theatre, Austin TX

October 26 – November 8, 2024
Los Angeles Theatre Center, Los Angeles CA
(As part of Encuentro 2024 Festival)

September 17 – 20, 2026
Wirtz Center
Chicago, IL
Chicago Latino Theatre Alliance
(as part Destinos Festival)

October 10 – November 1
Los Angeles Theater Center
Latino Theatre Company

Presented with generous  support from The Jim Henson Foundation, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Texas Commision on the Arts, National Endowment on the Arts, Awesome Foundation, Austin Community Foundation. 

Audience Testimonials

Audience Member
“By the end of the play, I could not stop the tears. . . . I was moved by the stripping of the layers of Yamel’s puppet, the movements of the Yamel and Llorona and Viejo puppets. The skeleton Yamel was so tiny and sensitive and so damn strong. I was moved by Javier interacting with the Yamel puppet. . . . I was so moved by the last scene when all of the characters emphatically changed the narrative of how to use their voices to stand up and fight the system and the fear. Beautiful. Powerful. I wish I had more words to express the beauty and the power I saw and felt emenating from the stage. . . Thank you. I am moved and changed. My open, broken heart has been touched."
Audience Member
"Sincerely possibly the best thing I’ve seen. I shed tears and laughed out loud and rose to my feet. I work with puppets and have seen so many puppet things and this was my favorite thing. Bravo!"
Audience Member
"It’s such a sharp and emotional epic, showing the grim side of immigration in America, with deep mythological roots. I’m planning to go back another weekend because it’s such a fun ride with so many layers."
Audience Member
"It was beautiful, terrifying, and so powerful that the audience started shouting when the lights went down at the end. I may never sleep again."
Audience Member
"Yamel was me!”
Audience Member
"All [Latinx] people should see this play." Their friend: "That's so interesting. I was just telling my husband that I thought all white people should see this play."