Sueños Vivos 1

Characters:
● Alberto - Robert,
● Maria - Alex
● Esperanza - Lisa
● Rally Leader - Francesco
● Sergeant Santiago - Georgina
● Alejandra - Andrea
● Erika - Michelle
● Doctor Robles - Karen

Scene 1

Scene opens in a desolate farmland. Maria begins to cry over a field of dead crops, and
dead leaves in her hand. Alberto enters stage right. He faces the audience, wiping his
brow with a handkerchief. He looks towards his wife, and then back out towards the
audience.

Alberto:

For years, my family has owned this land. Before me, my father owned this land, y mi
abuelo hasta mi tatarabuelo.. We've held this land for 6 generations, before that we
were merely vaqueros, scraping and saving whatever we could make just to get by. My
father told me, "Alberto, un día todó estó sera tuyo Imagine that! A little kid like me,
finally having something of his own! Oh and your wife can sit there by the porch, and
you can have your little ninos running through the fields. This is your birthright. Será tu
casa." My father wanted the best for me. He wanted for me to have an easy life, a
wealthy life, a better life. I looked forward to seeing it all, I've dreamed of this ever since
I was young. Those were the easy days, the times where the sweat and hard work of
my family had something to show for. Where our land stretched far and wide and our
soil grew only the finest fruits and vegetables. My father never saw the drought coming.
When our soil would become nothing, but worthless dust. The drought took everything
from us. My family​’​s legacy, our dreams, even my father himself. I tried to manage as
best as I could, but then came the plagues, the rustlers, and the debts. I watched my
father's land whither away and die, as I had to sell it acre by acre just to put food on the
table. And now all we are left with is this, a little old shack and a small patch of desert
that used to be mi padres rancho.

[Alberto looks away from the audience and turns towards his wife Maria. He crouches
down next to her and comforts her.]

ALBERTO​: ​Oye, María. We have to go.

 Sueños Vivos 2

[María stands up to confront Alberto]

MARÍA​: ​Adonde? Go where? This is our home!

[Alberto confronts her]

ALBERTO​: ​There is nothing left for us here!

MARIA​: ​Yes there is! Look around you! Does all of this mean nothing to you? Do I mean
nothing to you?

ALBERTO​: ​Of course you mean something to me! You mean everything to me! Maria!
Please! I need you to be by my side! I need you to come with me to America!

MARIA​: ​pal norte!? We know nothing about los Estados Unidos! Que nos espera?!
What waits for us there?

ALBERTO​: ​There's a lot more out there than we have here! Now we can sit and
hopelessly wait for things to get better here and die in the middle of the desert or we
can live where the sun is always shining and the grass is always green. What do you
say?

*Fade To black end Scene*

Scene 2

Scene opens in a blank stage with a flagpole in the center. 5 kids enter stage left in a
straight line. Esperanza is in the middle of them. They stop and turn to face the
audience.

All Kids

I pledge allegiance to the flag to the United States of America and to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

[Esperanza steps out from the crowd and faces the audience.]

Esperanza:

Mi papa always tells me. “Esperanza, you are an American, eres Americana.” But…
Mrs. Richardson says I'm a Mexican-American. She says I'm not American like the rest
 Sueños Vivos 3

of the kids. I don't know what to call myself. The kids seem to notice it too. They say I
talk weirder than the rest of them. My dad tells me that I shouldn't let that bother me. He
tells me that this is my home and that I am just as American as the rest of them. My dad
says that we are going to have a better life someday. He says we are going to live in a
big white house with freshly cut grass and a barbecue on the front lawn with all the
neighbors coming for carne asada. Ouu I hope there is ice cream there or paletas!
Everything tastes better with ice cream or paletas!

Esperanza exits stage right with the rest of the kids. End Scene.

Scene 3

Scene Opens on a blank stage. Rally enters stage left. There are a bunch of shouts
chanting "You Can't Tread on Me" over and over again. Cheers and screams are heard
in intervals in the speech.

Rally Leader:

Hello my True Americans! Today we take back this land that is rightfully ours! America,
you deserve better than this country has to offer. Your hardworking taxpayer money is
being spent so these drug-dealers and criminals can delude themselves into thinking
that they are American citizens. This country doesn't belong to them. This is America!
We speak English! If you want to live here, you better learn it! I'm sick and tired of
seeing these wetbacks and beaners cruise around in their low-riders and polluting our
streets. I'm sick of all this filth in my country. I never asked for them to be my neighbor! I
didn't serve in the Navy so that they could call themselves "Real Americans"! They
snuck into here! They lied cheated and stole so they could be here. Why? So they could
lie and steal here again! They want a better life? Well then tell them to pack their bags
and go back home, because they can't have it at my expense! We're not going to give
them our jobs, our homes, and = our health care so that they can loaf around and not do
anything for this country. Let's drive these wetbacks back where they belong, have them
go so that we can clean our streets once more. Because they can't take what isn't
theirs, they can't claim privileges they have no right to hold, they can't live here, they
can't stay here, and they can't tread on me!

Crowd:​ ​You can't Tread on Me! You can't Tread on Me! You can't Tread on Me!
 Sueños Vivos 4

*Crowd Cheers As it Fades to black then Continues cheering until it is a faint echo. End
Scene*

Scene 4

Scene opens on a blank stage. A line of troops bearing arms enter stage right marching
towards the stage. Alejandra is in the center of the line. A Sergeant Santiago is calling
out the orders Sergeant Santiago on stage. Alejandra is in leading position amongst the
line.

Sergeant Santiago​: ​Ten hut!

Line stops.

Sergeant Santiago​: ​Forward hut!

Line of soldiers faces the audience.

Sergeant Santiago​: ​Shoulder hut!

Soldiers shoulder their arms on their opposite shoulder.

Sergeant Santiago​: At Ease! ​Dismiss!

[Soldiers turn to exit except for Alejandra, who steps forward to face the crowd. She
waits for the soldiers to exit offstage before she begins to speak.]

Alejandra:

I don't know any other home than this. I live and breathe as an American! I have a giant
poster of Flags of My Fathers hanging over my bedroom. I want to be a marine like
Private Gonsalves who only at 19 threw himself on a grenade to save his fellow
marines. Or a marine like Ramona Valdez who saw first hand combat as a latina in Iraq
and died valiantly for her country. I can be one of those Marines! Tengo las ganas y
orgullo de ser Soldado! I was even named the City Core Staff Commander in Chicago
last year. The entire city said I was the model soldier. I want more than anything to
serve in the Marines. But as much as I love my country, my country doesn't love me. I
can't enlist, because I’m an undocumented citizen. They question my loyalty and my
devotion to this country, while my friends are shipped overseas giving it all they have to
protect this country, I'm left on the sidelines. I just want to be there. I just want to help in
 Sueños Vivos 5

any small way I can. I am willing to give it my all so I can serve in the Marines. All I want
is the chance to do so. Until then....

Alberto salutes the audience.

Alejandra​: ​God bless America

*Alejandra turns and exits stage left. End Scene*

Scene 5

Scene opens on a blank stage. Esperanza is down on his knees playing with Lincoln
logs. Esperanza has aged considerably since we've last seen him. He now appears to
be almost 10-13 years old.

Esperanza:

Most kids when they were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up said they
wanted to be firemen, others wanted to be futbolistas. Pero yo desde pequeña I’ve
always wanted to go to University of Texas-Pan America, the university of all the
greatest architects. Can you imagine what it must be like for them? To have a legacy
like that? To have a world renown name! I want my name to be spread across every
city in America. My name etched on state of the art skyscrapers and University
buildings. Hasta mi casa! I'll even redesign my own house when I get old enough.
Nothing but the best for my family! My papa always told me that I can have anything I
wanted, so long as I work hard for it. My dad wants the best for me, and I'm not going to
let him down! I'm going to show UTPA that I have what it takes to go there! I'll show
them that I’m the best in my school, and I will walk up those staircases and shake hands
with the UT president with a graduation cap on my head and a diploma in my hand! I am
going to be the best engineer, even if it kills me!

*Scene fades to Black End Scene*

Scene 6

Scene opens in a household. Maria is in the kitchen stage right, chopping up

vegetables. Alberto enters stage left, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. He pauses
before he enters, and eventually strides over to the kitchen. Maria looks up and sees
him. Puts her things down, and walks over to hug him.
 Sueños Vivos 6

MARIA​: ​Alberto! What are you doing here? Qué estas hacienda aquí?

[Alberto slowly moves over to the chair stage center right, trying to come with his story
slowly. ]

ALBERTO​: ​I asked Mr. Richardson for some time off, figured we should spend some
quality time together.

[Maria is not buying the story.]

MARIA​: ​You were fired again, weren't you?

[Alberto says nothing, he just sighs and lowers his head slowly.]

MARIA​: ​Mendigo Alberto! How are we supposed to make a life for ourselves, if you can't
even hold a stable job!

[Alberto rises from his seat and faces Maria]

ALBERTO​: ​What am I supposed to say, Maria? I used to run my own farm! I was my
own boss! But now it's Alberto has esto, Alberto do this! Alberto do that! I came to this
country to have a voice, not fall in line and be pushed around like this!

MARIA​: ​What did you expect? Did you think we would be welcomed into this country?
That they would say, "Come on down, have a seat. Make yourself at home!" You need
them ,much more than they need you!

ALBERTO​: ​So I'm supposed to be a ditch digger for the rest of my life?

MARIA​: ​This is not about you. Alberto! This is about us! Nosotros! This is about making
our lives better the lives of our future!

ALBERTO​: ​What future is there for us if we're no better than we were before? Every day
it's do this and do that. We work hours a day! Me duele mi espalda. All that I have to
carry, mis piernas me duelen. I'm tired because I only sleep five hours a day, spend 15
working for a man who doesn't know my first name, and doesn't even care. And for
what? For them to call me lazy and to pay me only a minimum wage. You want to know
why I was fired? Because I told Mr. Richardson que se ​vete a la fregada​. I would do it
again if I had to, it made me feel alive. It was one of the only times here that I felt in
control! Where I felt like I mattered in someway! It wasn't smart, it wasn't right, but it felt
good. I just wanted it to be easier than this. Caray!
 Sueños Vivos 7

[There is a long pause. Alberto and Maria are looking silently at each other.]

MARIA​: ​You can't be political all the time, Alberto, you have more than yourself to think
about this time.

ALBERTO​: ​I'm ok, you're ok. And that's all that matters, is that we're ok.

MARIA​: ​I'm pregnant.

[Alberto looks at Maria in shock.]

*Scene Fades to Black End Scene*
Scene 7

Scene opens on a blank stage. Video plays Erika Andiola's Family Separated on the big
screen. Once we have finished the video at 1:40. Erika rushes from Stage Left to the
center stage. She is screaming and upset.

Erika:

What are you doing? Where are you taking them! Hey! Stop! Where are you going?
Stop!!!!!

After screaming she starts to cry. And then softly addresses the audience.

ERIKA:

Why are you so afraid of us? You round us up like we're criminals! What can we
possibly do to you? We're just trying to move on with our lives. My mother fled Mexico
with my brother and I to run away from our abusive father. He spent all of his income
just so he could spend it on cerveza and when my mother asked him about it, he would
just beat her with his belt over the night. He made me and my brother watch. As he
would replace the studs every time they popped out. "Esto, esto les pasa cuando me
desobedecen!" He would say, "Mientras vivan bajo mi techo, yo mando!" So what did
my mother do? She took her family and left! She did what any mother would do, and
she protected her family! And still she's taken! Like it doesn't even matter to them! We
may not have been born in this country, but we are people damn it! People with hopes
and dreams. People who want to start over with their lives. But all you think about is
what I look like or how I speak. Is that all that matters to you! That as long as I'm not
considered American, I'm considered a threat? I'm just as American as you. I want to be
as American as you, but you will not treat us the same!
 Sueños Vivos 8

Erika walks out slowly stage right. End Scene

Scene 8

Scene opens on a blank stage. Esperanza enters Stage left, frantic and distraught.

Esperanza:

I wanted it. I wanted it so much! Is it too much to ask for this? All I wanted was to be an
architect. I worked harder than anyone else for it. That's because I wanted it more than
anyone else. I knew what I wanted and I had my mind sent on it ever since I was a boy.
I studied until I was one of the best in my class, and after that I studied until I was one of
the best in my district. And now that it's here, I realize I can't have it. What bullshit is
this? I want to be here more than anyone, but I can't afford it! I know this is the school
for me. I won't be happy anywhere else, but I can't afford it. The only way I can go here
is if I can get a scholarship. The big one. All expenses paid. Todo completo. They would
have to look through thousands of different applications, and decide that I'm worth their
investment. Having a school want you is one thing. Having a school buy you, now that's
a different thing. They're not going to bet on me. Hell, I wouldn't bet on me. I don't even
belong here. I never did.

Esperanza exits stage left. fade to black end scene.

Scene 9

Scene Opens in a Hospital Room. Alberto is lying down in a hospital bed. Maria runs in
stage left to a barely conscious Alberto. She kisses and hugs them.

Maria​: ​Ay, Alberto! I came as soon as I heard!

ALBERTO: Maria there is no need to worry! I had a little heat stroke earlier, that is all.

MARIA:​ ​But are you hurt? Cómo te sientes? How do you feel? Are you burning up? Can
I get you anything?

ALBERTO: Maria! I'm fine trust me! You have nothing to worry about! Estoy Bien!

[Doctor Robles enters stage left. Holding a folder in his hand and reading over the file.]
 Sueños Vivos 9

Doctor Robles​: ​Alright Mr. Aguilar, your test results have just come in and we did notice
a few things in your blood tests.

ALBERTO​: ​It's alright, Doctor Robles, I'm fine! It was just a heat stroke, that's all.

Doctor Robles​: ​Actually I'm afraid it's much more serious than that. Mr. Aguilar, I'm
afraid you are suffering from severe kidney failure.

[Maria looks at Alberto with concern. Then back at the Doctor Robles.]

MARIA​: ​Pero como? How did this happen?

Doctor Robles​: ​It is very rare in Alberto's case. He doesn't smoke and rarely drinks, and
he's a healthy young man, but it's still been known to happen. Haven't you noticed
anything strange? Any instances of stomach pains or exhaustion.

[Maria looks back at Alberto. Alberto speaks slowly.]

Alberto​: ​Sure, it takes me longer than most of the others to finish my job, but that
doesn't mean anything, right?

Doctor Robles​: ​No, Mr. Aguilar. This is a very serious condition. Your health is slowly
deteriorating, Mr. Aguilar, and unless you get the proper treatment, you will die. Now,
the dialysis treatment is relatively simple, but I need you to fill out your insurance
information here.

ALBERTO​: ​I don't have any.

Doctor Robles​: ​I'm sorry?

ALBERTO​: ​Insurance, I don't have any.

Doctor Robles​: ​Well, Mr. Aguilar, there are several federal aid programs you can apply
for in order to get your treatment.

Alberto:​ ​I'm undocumented, Doctor Robles. I can't apply for these programs.

[There is a long silence. The Doctor Robles looks silently at Alberto and Maria. Maria
begins to cry on his shoulder.]

ALBERTO​: ​Doctor Robles, if it's alright I would like some alone time with my wife.
 Sueños Vivos 10

Doctor Robles​: ​Of course. Take all the time you need.

[Doctor Robles Exits Stage Left. Alberto looks at Maria as she is crying next to him.]

ALBERTO​: ​Ya sé, Maria. I know.

*Scene Fades to Black. End Scene*

Scene 10

Esperanza is standing center stage. Very solemn and very straightforward.

Esperanza​: ​Dios mio, forgive me for what I'm about to do tonight. Jesús Cristo, I've
realized that I have no chance in becoming a Civil Engineer the way I've always
dreamed of here. So I am planning on going to you and helping you construct the new
temple in heaven. Perdóname

[Loud Gunshot! Esperanza falls to the floor. Erika enters Stage Left and Alberto's Bed is
dragged by Alejandra Stage Right.]

ERIKA​: ​Esperanza died having received an acceptance letter from UTAP. Two days
later, with a scholarship opportunity, She died having lost hope in her dreams as did
many of us.

ALBERTO​: ​They say there are 5 stages of death. Denial, Anger, Bargaining,
Depression, and Acceptance. These stages are much like my version of the American
Dream. My wife said it was a fool's chance to go to America, but I ignored her. I
stubbornly held steadfast even as I realized it wasn't what I thought it would be at all.
Now as I near the end of my life, I wonder was it worth it? Was my life any better here
than it was there? Did I see my dreams fulfilled? There was no swimming in the
backyard, no barbecue in the front, no big lawn with the freshly cut grass, just this. And
I've grown to accept it. This is what the world is for us. As long as the world sees us this
way, we can never be American like them. So what do we do about it? Do we fight back
or do we accept it for what it is? I've asked myself that question for many years now,
and with every year, I see how more and more divided we become. We just want the
same things as all of you. We want to be important, we want to belong. We want to be
Americans, but no matter how hard we try, we'll never be as American as you.

Fade to Black.
 Sueños Vivos 11

ALBERTO​: ​So what's the point?

*All actors exit stage.*

All actors/performers come up one by one and speak what their “The point is...”