With Selma Arts Center’s ‘Mojada,’ present-day immigration collides with ancient Greek drama

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A: Alfaro refers to these works as his Greek trilogy: “Electricidad” (a retelling of “Electra”), “Oedipus El Rey” and “Mojada.” He didn’t design them to be performed in a strict order, but each one explores a different facet of Latino and immigrant life through the lens of Greek tragedy. On their own, the plays reveal stories of struggle, love, violence, and survival. Together, they form a cultural mirror; they reflect the lived realities of working-class Latino families as they navigate survival, hope and betrayal in modern America. It’s really fascinating to see how easily the genre lends itself to these stories. It’s been awesome to see both of those plays done in the Fresno area (“Electicidad” was directed by Gina Sandi Diaz at Fresno State; “Oedipus El Rey” was directed by Rodolfo Robles Cruz at the Selma Arts Center).

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Q: In a nutshell, give us the bare bones of plot for this adaptation.

A: “Mojada” follows Medea (Dalicia Torrecillas), a seamstress who has crossed the border with her partner, Jason (Mason Beltrán), their son, Acan (Manuel Dolores), and their caretaker, Tita (Annarosa Salazar). While Jason works to build their lives in a new country, Medea hides away, turning her front yard into a sewing factory, rarely leaving the safety of home. The family encounters Josefina (Dehyza Gonzales/Paulina Contreras), a neighborhood vendor who offers friendship and guidance, and Armida (Alina Gonzalez), Jason’s ambitious boss whose influence begins to pull him further away from Medea.

Q: Medea is perhaps most infamous for the way her story ends,with the murder of her children, a detail so striking that even non-theatergoers often know her name. How directly does Alfaro’s “Mojada” engage with that part of the myth?

A: No spoilers, Donald! But I’ll say this: Alfaro is faithful to the emotional truth of Euripides’ Medea, but he reimagines how those acts resonate in the life of an immigrant family. In “Mojada,” the violence isn’t just physical, it’s cultural, it’s economic, it’s the violence of erasure. What Alfaro captures so well is how sacrifice, when pushed too far, can become its own kind of tragedy. Audiences will feel the weight of the ancient myth, but they’ll feel it through a contemporary lens that makes Medea’s struggle not just legendary, but maybe even familiar.

Q: Tell us about the actor who plays your Medea. As a director, what qualities were you looking for in her?

Dalicia Torrecillas plays our Medea, and what I needed from her was depth, vulnerability, and fire. Medea isn’t just a victim, and she isn’t just a villain; she’s someone carrying unimaginable sacrifice, trauma, and love. In Mexican folklore and history, the role of “mother” carries a complicated legacy. We often speak of three symbolic mothers: La Virgen de Guadalupe, the sacred protector; La Malinche, the mother of mestizaje and (some would say) betrayal; and La Llorona, the grieving woman who loses her children. Dalicia’s performance echoes all of them: holy, condemned, and haunted all at once. She brings a fierce honesty to the role, but also a softness that makes those layers heartbreakingly real. She asks us to question the character’s intentions in new ways and forces us to consider giving Medea mercy. I can’t wait for people to see her in this role.

Selma Arts Center

The opportunity to do this show was born out of unfortunate circumstances; SAC had to cancel a previously scheduled show, and “Mojada” took its place. When we held auditions, we knew we were already up against the clock, so time has felt like the biggest challenge, one that this cast and production team has been able to overcome. Aside from that, the challenge has been how to honor the myth and the community at the same time. We’re working with Greek tragedy (which is heightened, poetic, symbolic) and with rasquache aesthetics of Boyle Heights (which are raw, improvised and deeply real). Marrying those two worlds in a way that feels truthful was one of our biggest artistic tasks and also one of the most fulfilling to watch develop.

Q: Immigration is an issue so potent and raw right now that it can feel impossible to even keep up with the headlines. Given that this play was written in 2013, was there ever a time for you as a director that the text couldn’t keep up with current events?

A: Unfortunately, it has kept up with current events. When Alfaro wrote this play in 2013, the immigration debate was already heated. Now, more than a decade later, those same headlines keep repeating themselves. What that tells me is that the story is not behind the times but that the times just haven’t caught up to our humanity yet. The play feels current not because it predicted the future, but because the cycle of fear and division around immigration hasn’t broken. That’s part of the tragedy.

Q: Speaking of 2013, how different do you think the viewing experience of “Mojada” was for the audience when it opened as opposed to today?

A: When “Mojada” premiered in 2013, I think audiences saw it as bold, this Greek tragedy reimagined in Boyle Heights, inside the life of an immigrant family. At the time, it might have felt like a creative experiment, a way to make an old myth feel new. Now, more than a decade later, the play really affects me differently. No, people don’t literally do what Medea does in the myth and in “Mojada,” but the pressures these characters carry, the sacrifice, isolation, and cost of belonging, are very real. And I think that’s what feels closer to home for audiences today. It’s not the act itself we recognize, it’s the weight behind it.

Q: Many of us are dealing with some very heavy issues at the moment. Is there anything you can share about the production that lightens the mood?

A: Absolutely. For all its tragedy, “Mojada” has so much humor and tenderness in it. Alfaro knows that if you only give an audience grief, they shut down. But if you give them laughter, they open up. Tita, for example, played by Annarosa Salazar, is such a source of wit and warmth. The character carries the weight of the old world but delivers it with so much bite and humor. And the cast itself has built this beautiful sense of familia during rehearsal; that joy and camaraderie comes through on stage. Even in the heaviest moments, there are flashes of levity and human connection.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I’d just say that “Mojada” is more than looking back at an old Greek story. It’s about looking around us, right now. It’s about sacrifice, belonging and the cost of chasing dreams. My hope is that audiences are impacted by the weight of the tragedy, yes, but more importantly, that they leave with a sense of recognition, with the realization that our community’s stories are worthy of myth, of stage, of poetry. And since it’s spooky season, I’ll add this: “Mojada” is its own kind of scary. Who needs a haunted house when you’ve got a Greek tragedy!