Vecinos

By Rupert Reyes

Don Roberto is a feisty 70-year-old widower and colorful barrio icon that spends his days watching TV and threatening to scare off young graffiti taggers, but his routine changes with the arrival of a new resident across the hall. When 70-year-old Doña Maria catches his eye, the two quickly become more than just vecinos (neighbors).

Can it be love senior citizen-style? You can bet the sparks will fly, especially when their children find out that there is romance in the air. You won't want to miss this heartwarming and romantic bilingual comedy that begs the question, is it ever too late to fall in love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Editing
• Release date: Mar 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9780989311939

Book preview

VECINOS

by Rupert Reyes

aE PUBLISHING HOUSE

SMASHWORDS EDITION, MARCH 2016

Copyright 2007 by Rupert Reyes

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published by aE Publishing House, a division of Austin Editing.

CAUTION: This play is protected in whole, in part, or in any form, under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America, the British Empire, including the Dominion of Canada, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, and is subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, radio, television, and public reading, are strictly reserved. All inquiries concerning performance rights should be addressed to the author: Rupert Reyes, 3103 Breeze Terrace, Austin, Texas, 78722-1909.

The U.S. World Premiere was produced by Teatro Vivo and directed by T. J. González. Originally produced in Austin, Texas at the Mexican American Cultural Center.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment and may not be re-sold or given away. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN 978-0-9893119-3-9

www.austinediting.com

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Cast of Characters

Act I

I Scene i

I Scene ii

I Scene iii

I Scene iv

I Scene v

I Scene vi

I Scene vii

I Scene viii

Act II

II Scene i

II Scene ii

II Scene iii

II Scene iv

II Scene v

II Scene vi

II Scene vii

II Scene viii

II Scene ix

Epilogue

About the Author

FOREWORD

by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce

The stage needs stories of all kinds. However, some stories are in greater need than others, and will remain so, as long as there are groups of people underrepresented on U.S. stages. Latinos are at once the fastest-growing minority group in the country and also one of those groups rarely represented in our theatres. Yet, Rupert Reyes has been telling Latino stories on Austin stages for over 40 years. I have known Rupert for only about half of that time. Nearly everyone connected to Latino theatre in Austin knows and has worked with Rupert.

I am pleased that Rupert is getting his plays published; it’s been a long time coming. We need more quality Latino plays available for everyone to read, and for companies in other regions to produce. Vecinos is a quintessential Rupert Reyes play, about real people, Latino/as living life the best they know how. A somber though uplifting story about people who care about each other, unconditionally, because that’s what we are supposed to do, according to Rupert.

Vecinos tells the story of neighbors who become a family. This also represents how Rupert lives his life. All those involved in Teatro Vivo are grateful for his work, along with his wife JoAnn, to build familia in Austin. Mi casa es su casa, they both say, and they mean it. And they include not only Latinos. Rupert’s company and home have always eagerly invited non-Latinos who are interested in listening and learning from a story that might not be their own. Have a minute? Knock on Rupert’s door. He’ll readily let you in, pour you a cup of coffee, and sit and chat with you. He’ll tell you a story or two, and he will listen to yours, too. Rupert is not only committed to telling his own stories, but he is also dedicated to developing other voices—always working toward putting more Latino voices on stage, for everybody.

Roxanne Schroeder-Arce

Author of Señora Tortuga and Mariachi Girl

University of Texas at Austin

October 16, 2013

PREFACE

by Rupert Reyes

Mom (Dominga Reyes) died when I was 7 years old. Dad remarried when I was 13. When he died, in October of 2007, he had been married to my stepmom (Jesusa Reyes) for 42 years.

I hoped that he would get to see Vecinos. It remains a tribute to those years that he was married to both of these women. The memory of his arrival from the hospital after my seven siblings and I learned of Mom’s death remains clear and vivid. The sound of his mournful cry as he embraced my grandmother is one that I have never heard again, and hope to never hear again. My dad was a strong, honorable man, but here he was reduced to a suffering that we can only