Josefina López was devastated when she learned Gloria Molina had terminal cancer. To cope, she did what she does best: write.
The groundbreaking politician was something to everyone, but to the “Real Women Have Curves” playwright, she was a hero.
During her tenure as L.A. County Supervisor, Molina supported arts endeavors like Lopez’s CASA 0101 Theater, a fixture in the Boyle Heights community, and in 2014, founded the Eastside Arts Initiative. Molina attended early works at Little CASA, CASA 0101’s first home across the street from the theater’s current location.
“I remember she complained that the chairs needed more padding,” laughed López, who at 17 wrote her first play, “Simply Maria,” as an undocumented student at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. “I go, ‘That’s true. We need better chairs. We just don’t have money.’”
Weeks before her death last year, López renamed CASA 0101’s main auditorium the Gloria Molina Auditorium in a streamed event Molina viewed from the comfort of her Mount Washington home. With her only daughter, Valentina Martinez, at her bedside, Molina watched as López poured her heart out reading a poem about a woman born to be the voice of her community and inspire future leaders. The poem, “A Woman Named Gloria,” was the seed for the play opening this Friday.
“I want people to know who she is and what she did,” said López seated inside the cozy Gloria Molina Auditorium. “She was a politician who said she was going to help her community and she did. She brought resources and had no corruption scandals.”
Molina’s legacy guides a new generation
Centered on a young politician in dire need of guidance after getting a DUI, “A Woman Named Gloria” calls on the spirit of Molina to pull the protagonist out from her darkness. Fusing social and magical realism, the young woman asks, “What would Gloria do?” summoning the ghost of Molina as she’s being escorted into heaven by La Virgen de Guadalupe. Molina returns to earth and her life unfolds onstage from a fiery young Chicana activist standing up for her gente at the Chicano Moratorium to defying expectations as a political powerhouse in a white, male-dominated world. Her rise to a highly respected leader in the Latino community is juxtaposed with images of Molina, the mother, sister, quilter and cook.
Born on May 31, 1948 in Montebello to Mexican immigrant parents, Molina was the oldest of 10 and took on the role of mother at a young age. At 22, she attended the Chicano Moratorium, which sparked her political career. She made history as the first Latina to serve in the California state Assembly, on the L.A.City Council and on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. On Wednesday, the L.A. City Council proclaimed Aug. 29, “Gloria Molina Day,” and will celebrate with a mural unveiling outside CASA 0101 Theater Thursday.
“When she was running for supervisor, they were like, ‘Well maybe you shouldn’t run because most of the government buildings don’t have women’s restrooms,’” said lead actress Karla Ojeda, 50, who plays the eldest Molina in the play. “When she won, they had to add a bathroom on that floor for the supervisor.”
Ojeda directed CASA 0101’s “Simply Maria” production in 2006 and ran into López last year at a mutual friend’s wedding.
“I walked in and she said, ‘You look just like Gloria Molina,’” said Ojeda. López told her she was writing a play about the legendary politician and would be in touch. Ojeda began manifesting the role and put it on her vision board. After two readings, she got the part.
“I’ve been eating, sleeping and drinking Gloria for months,” said Ojeda, an East L.A. native who started acting at Griffith Middle School and did theater at Garfield High School before attending the Los Angeles Theatre Academy. “This is my Olympics. It’s everything I’ve ever trained for as an actor.”
For the play’s director, Corky Dominguez, the connections to Molina were unexpected.
Dominguez started doing plays at Molina’s high school alma mater El Rancho in Pico Rivera. When he was 11, he and his brother happened upon the Chicano Moratorium while swimming at the Laguna Park pool (the park was renamed Ruben F. Salazar Park).
“There was folklorico, speeches, food,” Dominguez recalled. “It was a very festive, peaceful demonstration. Then the police came and it got really crazy. We got tear gas in our eyes and they started clubbing people. My brother got hit by something. It was really chaotic and awful.”
The incident impacted his life and inspired him to tell stories. For this play, he wanted the set to look like a supervisor’s boardroom with wood paneling and marble floors. He enlisted a projection designer to get the flashback images of Molina just right and used quilts in the background.
Photo by Alexis Castro.
The human behind the politician
López started writing the play in October and spent hours interviewing Molina’s family, friends and coworkers. She watched videos and read a 10-hour interview with Molina.
“I’ve really gotten to know [López] this past year and understand why my mom had so much respect for her,” said Martinez, Molina’s daughter, who is also a CASA 0101 board member. “I’m so impressed with her process. The amount of time and effort she put into this play blows my mind. She spent so much time with us and was so transparent. She shared first drafts, 12th drafts, 16th drafts. She was so open to our notes and made sure everything was factual.”
Martinez grew up going to ribbon cuttings on Saturdays, listened to her mom speak at Democratic conventions and spent evenings at galas wearing fancy dresses.
“I was resentful because I wanted my mom to be normal,” said Martinez, 37, who is the director of philanthropy for Shriners Children’s in Pasadena. “I just wanted to go home and watch Nickelodeon.”
Shopping trips with her mom and grandma meant people coming up to Molina asking for help with an issue or an unresponsive council member. Some wanted a photo. It wasn’t until Martinez was in college that she realized the huge impact her mom made on the community.
Despite all of her work obligations, Molina always found time to cook meals for her family. Chile Colorado and cornish hens were her daughter’s favorites. During Christmas, she invited her whole staff over for the red and green tamales her family made every year. To relax, Molina quilted and sewed into the wee hours of the night. It’s this side of Molina that Martinez really wants people to know.
López often felt Molina’s presence during interviews with family and friends. She learned Molina had a curandera ancestor and often affected electrical devices. While talking to Martinez, López felt as if Molina was in the room with them.
“I started feeling all of this electricity in my body and told her, ‘I think your mother’s here,’” said López.
López treaded lightly about Molina’s fight with cancer, but wanted to stress the importance of breast cancer screenings. In the play, Gloria explains she kept her fight a secret because she didn’t want to burden anyone and thought she could beat it.
“She didn’t like being vulnerable,” López said. “She didn’t believe in therapy. She had to be tough her whole life.”
When asked what she wants the audience to take away from her play, Lopez is quick to answer.
“Women deserve second chances,” she said. “Men always get a second chance. And when a woman makes one mistake, that’s it. It’s over. Society may not forgive you, but you have to forgive yourself. You’re good enough.”
“A Woman Named Gloria,” runs from Aug. 30 to Oct. 6 at CASA 0101 Theater and features the “Gloria Molina: Madrina of the Eastside” art exhibit in the lobby. For tickets, visit www.casa0101.org.
A great story and reminder of what Gloria did for her community. She never forgot where she came from!