{"id":342501,"date":"2026-06-02T05:23:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342501\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T05:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:23:54","slug":"el-rayo-or-self-deportation-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/342501\/","title":{"rendered":"El Rayo; or Self-Deportation Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/El-rayo-2_web-1-620x413.jpg\" alt=\"El Rayo; or Self-Deportation Nation\"\/>Artwork by Ram Reyes<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Playhouse Fresno, a theater company established this year, presents their inaugural production about three siblings, two undocumented, the third born in the United States, navigating life in a mixed status home in the Central Valley. The plot transcends when Earth makes contact with extraterrestrials, further complicating the siblings\u2019 already complex lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story explores the intersections of immigration, American news narratives, growing up, dreaming, and feeling stuck in a \u201cdeeply personal and wildly satirical play\u201d. The show balances comedy, drama, and a \u201cdash\u201d of science fiction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe re-imagine a typical coming-of-age story to a reality that is widely ignored in our society,\u201d director and founder of Playhouse Fresno, Claudio Lasso said in a press release shared with the Community Alliance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Playhouse Fresno\u2019s mission is to \u201csupport local playwrights and underrepresented theater artists in Fresno by developing original works, providing accessible workshops, and creating a space where all are truly welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The play was written by Rodolfo Robles Cruz. The cast includes local actors Aleah Rashel Micu, Toph Ortiz, Mason Beltran, Elena Navarrette, Alexander Prado, Bri Villanueva, Hardcastle, and Wade Pierson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El Rayo; or Self-Deportation Nation at Arte Am\u00e9ricas in the Main Gallery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">June 12 (evening), doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.<br \/>June 13 (matinee), doors open at 1:30 p.m., show starts at 2 p.m.<br \/>June 13 (evening), doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m.<br \/>June 14 (matinee), doors open at 1:30 p.m., show starts at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tickets are \u201cpay what you can\u201d at the door. Fresno Unified students get free admission with valid student ID.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The play is funded in part by the City of Fresno Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund and is sponsored by CMAC. For more information, visit instagram.com\/playhousefresno<\/p>\n<p>\nFacebook<br \/>\nTwitter<br \/>\nEmail<br \/>\nPrint\n<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artwork by Ram Reyes Playhouse Fresno, a theater company established this year, presents their inaugural production about three&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-342501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}