Director's Note (Real Women Have Curves, 2017)

“Real Women Have Curves”
Costa Mesa Playhouse Production, September 2017
Director’s Note
Resilience is powerful and daunting.
It’s tucked away in unsuspecting places; in the hearts and on the shoulders of the invisible.
The invisible are everywhere - in our communities, our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and homes who, like most, struggle. Yet, despite many obstacles they persist. They resist to give up.
This play has reminded me of this resistance. These characters and these women, despite any and all everyday “shortcomings,” endure.
I can identify with many of these shortcomings; the pressures and expectations of motherhood, working, making ends meet, being a woman and a person of color. I struggle. We all do. But in our struggle, we persist. Like those before me - those women and men in my family who wanted better for their children, families, communities, and their lives. They left behind homes, violence, wars, loved ones, natural disasters, and everything they knew.
And from their backs and shoulders, like our protagonist, “Ana”, I am able to stand, live my life safer, receive an education, and be able to access more opportunities than they had ever imagined. I am grateful for them and their sacrifices. I honor them by not forgetting their travels, trials, and tribulations and celebrating them in my everyday life by living, resisting, giving, loving, and opening more door to others.
Today, people are facing the insurmountable task of staying resilient in a time where all can feel lost. "The Wall", "Closed Doors", "Alternative Facts" have become buzz words in response to our country's future and to the people in it. How does one face this? How do those who are vulnerable to these changes, persist? It's a question I ask myself every day. I'm not sure I have the answer. But I, along with my cast and crew, strive to tell a story - to gain empathy. To persist through the power of live theatre.
Because, at the end of the day - there’s Hope. Forged out of resilience accumulated from the smallest and darkest spaces. Spaces that seem insignificant or unimportant but in numbers can transform into a powerful movement. Like the women in this play, these beautiful women, we, together in our numbers - we are powerful.
I dedicate this production to loving memory of Regina “Gina” Maria Davidson who persisted and who’s resistance still lies in the many she inspired to dream bigger.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE, SARA GUERRERO