El Corrido de California is performed in Spanish with some English. Both English and Spanish captions are available now. 

California, 1846. Don Gerónimo Segura, a Mexican rancher and mayor of the village of Santa Bárbara, welcomes his son Rafael home after five years of military service in Mexico City. Rafael, however, comes bearing news–the United States, the neighboring country his father so deeply admires, has begun a hostile takeover of California. In the ensuing conflict, Don Gerónimo and the citizens of Santa Bárbara are forced to choose between their honor and keeping themselves and their loved ones safe.

Set at the start of the Mexican American War, El Corrido de California, which translates to "The Ballad of California," is a bilingual play that dramatizes this turbulent period that is rarely spoken about in American history books. Fausto Avendaño, a playwright, translator, and professor at California State University, Sacramento, was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and spent his childhood in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. He is the author of several other works of historical fiction about early-day Californians and Mexican-Americans.

Theatre Talk: El Corrido de California

Learn more about the history of the production and its creators through a lively discussion with Director Galia Backal and Ana Cantorán Viramontes, a contributing writer for the Upstage Guide.

Leadership support for The Refocus Project is generously provided by the Ford Foundation.

Additional funding provided by Eugene and Joann Bissell and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, R. Martin Chavez and by Bank of America.

The Refocus Project is made possible by the Champions for Inclusive Theatre and Roundabout’s Forward Fund. We acknowledge the generous friends who support our many efforts to increase representation and inclusion in all aspects of theatre: Elizabeth Armstrong, Eugene and Joann Bissell and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, Bank of America, R. Martin Chavez, Herbert W. Engert Jr. and Timothy Miller, EY, the Ford Foundation, Kenny Leon, Gina Maria Leonetti, Beryl Snyder, Denise Littlefield Sobel, and Charles Randolph-Wright.