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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.
Lucha's Quinceañera Song
Arrangements and Guitar and Requinto Jarocho: Jerónimo Rajchenberg, Guitar Quinta Colorada: Alfredo López
Leona: Russell Kennedy
Music by David Rosenboom
Text by Janine Salinas Schoenberg
Director’s Notes:
“Chapter 4 is not the moment of the crash that kills Lucha’s parents; it is the moment just before, on the day of Lucha’s quinceañera. Lucha is at her youngest, singing David’s melancholy song for traditional instruments. It’s a song about that ritual transformation of a girl to a woman, a moment of crossing a threshold. Lucha in the scene does not yet know that she is about to cross another threshold: a near-death experience that leaves her haunted her whole life.
“As soon as limos became the necessary vehicle for this project (mostly to accommodate 4 audience members and as many as four musicians), it became essential that we create a quinceañera scene.
“In crafting each of the car chapters, I was hoping that each individual moment felt lifted up and encapsulated by the vessel of the vehicle – that each various stage of the characters’ lives had this aura of ritual, whether it was a more social ritual like in this chapter or a personal moment of transformation.
“I personally never thought of the limos as a signifier of class or affluence, but instead a car so extraordinary that you would only use it for special occasions: for commemorations and rituals. That’s how some of our story markers came into being: a quinceañera, two weddings Chapters 12 and Chapter 28, a funeral-like trek through a cemetery Chapter 17.
Lucha’s Quinceañera Song
Excerpt from the Hopscotch album, Track 3. Composer, David Rosenboom
“This chapter gave our Lucha the chance to greet her name-sake, the legendary singer Lucha Reyes, immortalized in the form of a statue in Mariachi Plaza. After seeing Lucha Reyes pop up repeatedly in our Hopscotch research, it was clear that her history and the history of Los Angeles were intricately woven together. Her most famous song, ‘Por un amor,’ became a leitmotif throughout Hopscotch. I also loved that her name meant ‘fighter’ in Spanish, and in many ways that deep source of strength is what we wanted to imbue our fictional Lucha with.
“Because audiences experienced Hopscotch in different orders, this scene had a very different character depending on the direction you travelled on the route. Half the audience experienced this scene after Chapter 32, which features the young Orlando discovering his love for literature and philosophy.
“These audiences mostly found this scene sweet– the younger Orlando and young Lucha pass each other in the Libros Schmibros bookstore, not yet aware of the transformative role they’ll play in each other’s lives.
Boyle Heights
An incredible platform for Chicano art in Los Angeles, particularly in regards to El Moimiento Chicano. During the 1970s, murals became very popular among Chicano artists lacking public voice and representation. The movement has been kept alive in Boyle Heights with the help of the East Los Streetscapers, a group of artists dedicated to visual representation of Chicano pride and struggles through public murals which adorn the neighborhood’s buildings.
“In the other direction, audiences experienced this scene after Chapter 8, the sweet moment of Lucha and Jameson’s first kiss. Following that scene, this childhood scene felt more melancholy, as if it were a memory of an unresolved trauma, and that the burgeoning love between Lucha and Jameson was somehow a response to a great tragedy.
“These are only two potential readings among many – and neither was inherently intentional. I love how each audience member’s unique context gave them a completely individual view of the story. The montage of chapters was open to a multitude of indeterminate meanings.”
– Yuval Sharon
“I have learned to be a woman. To be an artist. So tonight, as I leave that child behind, I will celebrate my rebirth. In a room transformed with ribbons and lights into a starry sky. And I will sing, ‘Porque ahorá soy mujer.’”