‘My Mañana Comes’ addresses wages, immigration reform

Twitter Q&A on Thursday; special forum after Sunday’s matinee

Photo by Michael Brunk / nwlens.com

SEATTLE (Nov. 9, 2015) – Just beyond the elegant dining room of an Upper East Side restaurant, four busboys angle for shifts, pray for tips, and cling to dreams of life beyond their dingy back-of-house grind. Expertly juggling delicate entrees, fussy customers and beer-swilling line cooks, the young men face off with management and each other. As tensions reach a boiling point, how far will each of them go to see his own mañana come?

This electric new play, My Mañana Comes, which debuted to much acclaim off-Broadway last year, delves into the issues of immigration, identity, and fair pay with a fierce and cutting edge. It is playing now through Nov. 22 at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery, 4711 California Ave SW in West Seattle. (Get ticket info.)

The play is being used to help invigorate the cross-sector discussion about the fight for a living wage and immigration reform.

SPECIAL EVENTS — On Thursday, Nov. 12, ArtsWest will host an hour-long Twitter Q&A at 3 p.m. using the hashtag #mananatoday. Arts and social justice leaders are slated in participate, and those wishing to join the discussion can do so by following @ArtsWestSeattle.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance, there will be a panel discussion on the issues raised in the play. Moderated by Tony Gomez of the Humanities WA Speakers Bureau, the panel will include Rosanna Sharpe, Executive Director of Northwest African American Museum; Diego J. Aranda Teixeira, Associate Attorney with Villacorta & Bailey Law, P.S. and Pro-bono Immigration Attorney; and Jorge Baron, Executive Director of the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project.

Elizabeth Irwin’s searing drama features four bussers — two Mexican immigrants living in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, a black American from West Harlem, and a Mexican American who grew up in Coney Island — who find their worlds intersecting in the back of a Manhattan restaurant as this humorous and haunting story is told through the deceptive edge of camaraderie, ribbing and playful ridicule.

This production of My Mañana Comes is made possible by a generous grant from the Satterberg Foundation.

Click here for more information.