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Chapter 2 CrashRed Route - An intersection in Boyle Heights
Lucha and Jamson exchange information in the aftermath of their accident.
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Chapter 4 Lucha's Quinceañera SongRed Route - Mariachi Plaza, Boyle Heights
Lucha remembers the day she left her childhood behind.
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Chapter 6 Jameson PortraitYellow Route - The 2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown Los Angeles
Jameson contemplates the multifaceted nature of his personality.
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Chapter 7 The ReunionYellow Route - A Rehearsal Studio in the Arts District
Lucha and Jameson connect at Lucha's performance of Orpheus and Eurydice.
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Chapter 8 First KissRed Route - Hollenbeck Park, East Los Angeles
Romance blooms on Lucha and Jameson's first date.
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Chapter 9 Angel's PointGreen Route - Angel's Point, Elysian Park
Lucha and Jameson share a passionate physical experience.
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Chapter 11 The Floating NebulaGreen Route - The Corn Fields, Los Angeles State Historic Park, Chinatown
The metaphysical peak in Lucha and Jameson's love.
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Chapter 12 WeddingYellow Route - City Hall, Downtown Los Angeles
On their wedding day, Lucha gives Jameson a fateful gift.
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Chapter 14 The Phone Call, Part 1Red Route - Traversing between the Arts District and Boyle Heights
Lucha receives a mysterious phone call from a voice she seems to recognize.
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Chapter 17 Orlando's FairwellRed Route - Evergreen Cemetery
Before leaving Los Angeles, Orlando pays his last respects to his wife.
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Chapter 18 Interlude (Car Wash)Green Route - AirStream Trailer, Elysian Park
Reflect on the impact of a location's geography on a person's psyche.
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Chapter 24 The Red NotebookRed Route - Utter darkness
In a state of darkness, Lucha is haunted by Jameson's red notebook.
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Chapter 25 The Other WomanYellow Route - The Bradbury Building, Downtown Los Angeles
Still submerged in darkness, Lucha dreams of Jameson's infidelity.
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Chapter 26 HadesGreen Route - Bowtie Parcel, Los Angeles River
Lucha descends to the underworld in search of Jameson.
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Chapter 28 Lucha and Orlando in LoveYellow Route - Historic Core, Downtown Los Angeles
After years apart, Lucha and Orlando reunite in Los Angeles.
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Chapter 33 Farewell From the Roof TopsRed Route - Rooftops, Toy Factory Lofts, Biscuit Lofts, Ito Building Tower, Arts District
Lucha makes peace with Jameson's disappearance.
Orlando's Fairwell
Sarita: Kirsten Ashley Wiest and Carrie Mikuls
Violas: Cassia Streb and Lauren Baba/Andrew McIntosh
Guitar: Omar Torrez
Music by Veronika Krausas
Text by Janine Salinas Schoenberg
Director’s Notes:
“This chapter depicts Orlando’s farewell to LA and the ghost of his wife Sarita, who we meet in the animation directly preceding this. The limo here sets the tone for a funeral as it drives through Evergreen Cemetery. Two violas accompany their farewell as Sarita exits and stays among the gravestones. As the car drives, Sarita appears elsewhere in the cemetery played by another performer (the dancer Carrie Mikuls). One by one the car empties…but it doesn’t end mournfully. A guitarist enters the empty car and sings Lucha Reyes’ ballad ‘Por un amor’ as the car completes its journey.
“We left Mexico in search of adventure. Lovers with a collection of one-way tickets. Until we ended here, in a city so vast and gray. But still we saw its color and its magic. Driving with you down these streets and highways felt endless. All we needed was each other. In you, I saw myself. In you, I saw the man I could become. The world felt smaller. And I knew that I belonged.”
“The original concept was going to be for musicians and singers to be all around the cemetery, which audiences would hear via wireless microphones and Sennheiser antennae (like in Chapter 2, Chapter 19, and Chapter 22). But Evergreen Cemetery was the site that gave us the most trouble of any: they never, ever responded to any attempts to reach out to them, even ones officially placed by the Mayor’s office or Councilmember Huizar’s staff. We started reading alarming articles about the owner’s involvement in money laundering and evading the law – which is probably why no one ever returned my calls or responded to my visits to the office. Maybe they thought I was trying to serve the owner papers, and the opera was an elaborate ploy to bring him out. Finally, when the secretary ignored my physical presence in the office in one of the most surreal circumstances I’ve ever experienced, I realized we weren’t going to get anywhere using the cemetery officially.
“Veronika and I worked out an alternative scenario in which all the musicians were in the car, and the limo drove around the cemetery’s perimeter (on normal streets) instead. We went ahead planning for that, but as we got closer to the rehearsal, it was starting to feel too much like a compromise – driving inside the cemetery was obviously so much more powerful. So we decided, ‘Why not try it and see if anyone notices what we’re doing? Maybe if they come out to stop us we may actually be able to talk to someone about it! Maybe with all the musicians in the car they would never notice us?’ So we thought…and in fact we were right. We ended up driving through the cemetery nearly 300 times over 6 weeks of rehearsals and performances without anyone ever noticing.
“As if this scene weren’t already challenging, the additional complication to the team was figuring out the picking up and dropping off of the singers and musicians. We needed a second vehicle – I dubbed it ‘the getaway car’ considering our renegade approach to the cemetery – that followed the limo and picked up the performers as they left, and made sure everyone was together again for the start of the next rotation. Sounds easy enough on paper, maybe, but the communication between two different vehicles driving through a cemetery that we didn’t have authorization to use only contributed to the madness of this particular scene. A major kudos the assistant stage manager of this chapter, Meredith Kitz, who kept this relay race on track and on time.”