Original play about Hector P. Garcia coming to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Every weeknight since the semester began, the students bustling in and out of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi's Warren Theatre have been energized by the life of local civil rights icon Dr. Hector P. Garcia.

The students are in the final stages of preparing to perform a new play about Garcia's life, which will open for its first performance 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the university's Warren Theatre. It will run nightly through Oct. 1 and will close with a final performance Oct. 2 at 2 p.m.

The university Department of Theatre and Dance commissioned the play, called “House Bill 3979 Amendment #10: The Life and Works of Dr. Hector P. Garcia," to honor Garcia's legacy and shine a light on overlooked Mexican American history and civil rights.

"I'll go to the store as I'm checking out and I'll ask, 'Hey, what do you know about Dr. Hector Garcia?'" senior and student actor Nico Montalvo said. "I'm not a local from Corpus, so something that really shocked me was everyone I talked to knew this guy. Everyone had an uncle who was delivered by him or a mom who was involved in the GI Forum."

Garcia was originally born in Mexico, but grew up in Texas and attended the University of Texas. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. In Corpus Christi, he opened a medical practice serving veterans and migrant workers and founded the American GI Forum.

Garcia fought for the rights of veterans and against segregation. In 1984, he was the first Mexican American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The play covers Garcia's life, including the GI Forum, as well as events such as Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD, the Supreme Court case that extended integration to Mexican Americans.

Garcia is well known in Corpus Christi, and at the university many students know of him from a prominent statue on campus.

"When you see that statue, you wonder: What did he do to gain the statue?" senior and student actor Issac Lopez Castro said. "Whenever I found out we're doing a project based on him and his achievements and his life, I was like, 'Oh, I need to find out about this man.'"

Senior Mac McLendon, who plays Garcia's wife, Wanda, said the cast heard from Garcia's daughter, Cecilia Garcia Akers, and read her book about her father's life.

"It was kind of crazy going through this process, learning so much about him and being like, 'How have I never been taught about him?'" McLendon said.

"Being able to see the impact the family and Hector P. had in real life while putting up something that's going to impact more people has been the greatest part. We're working on it to inspire more people."

The name of the play references a bill passed by the Texas Legislature in 2021 affecting public school curriculum.

One version of the bill included the amendment for which the play is named, which would have required public schools to teach students about Garcia. That amendment didn't make it into the final version of the bill that was passed into law.

Assistant professor Thomas Oldham assisted with historical research for the project. Other faculty members involved include assistant professors Meredith Melville and Marco Munoz, who is the play's director. The team chose New Jersey playwright Iraisa Ann Reilly to write the play.

The play mixes historical events with theatrical elements. Lopez Castro, a senior, is playing a fictional teacher who serves as a stand-in for the audience on stage.

Rehearsals began at the start of the fall semester about a month ago, but the students began preparing for the play last semester. Reilly came to the university to conduct research for a weekend in February.

"The first weekend was starting from scratch with raw materials from the archives, throwing stuff up, improvising and trying to see what is theatrically appealing," Oldham said.

Students were cast in May, though specific roles were not yet assigned. Sixteen students play more than 80 roles.

"The playwright was very attuned to the needs of the historical story, but she was also attuned to the students themselves and what their roles could be, what their strengths are as actors and what types of characters they play well, and she crafted a script that incorporated all of that," Oldham said.

Then, over the summer, Reilly spent a week with the cast trying out scenes and making adjustments. The students even had a hand in creating the script and dialogue, which they said was a unique experience.

"That's been the coolest thing I've experienced in the show — the creating of the script and knowing that all of us, behind the scenes, on stage, made this story happen," Montalvo said.

As the first cast to perform the play, the actors are excited to originate their roles.

"It's very special to be able to say you're the first one to put a character on stage," Lopez Castro said.

Sophomore Gabriel Almager, who plays Garcia, said the cast has come together as a team.

"We all, as a team and as a company and as a family, we've been doing really good to make sure that we're doing this for Hector and for his family and for the community and for the Hispanic community," Almager said. "This show is for everyone."

Tickets are available online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/tamucc/2089.

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