It’s fall 1983 in Bell Gardens. At the end of a street targeted by construction projects is an adobe home built in the 19th century before the Mexican-American War. Despite plans to move the 139-year-old house, it would catch ablaze, becoming unrepairable.
The cause of the fire was never determined. But in “Adobe Punk,” a theater production that premiered in 2021 by Gabriel Garza and Theresa Chavez, the bond between three aspiring musicians leads to the destruction of the house during the pinnacle of punk in Los Angeles.
The latest iteration of “Adobe Punk” is being performed in real time. The current production held a preview on March 28 at Plaza de la Raza’s Margo Albert Theatre in Lincoln Heights. Although the show has played in Boyle Heights, San Pedro and Bell Gardens, the new venue would be its first time performed without interruptions.
“I’d always had a vision to make the show into one long scene,” said Garza. “To really give it this essence of: you’re watching these people, this trio, in the house, experiencing a slice of time that is really condensed and unusual for the format of theater.”
Adobe Punk focuses on Bell Systems, a fictional band of three friends inspired by the Minutemen, X and other punk bands making waves in the area at the time, While squatting in an adobe home that municipal code-reading drummer Manny (Isaac Cruz) staked out, he, Noreen (Sara Bunge) and Kat (Margarita Brighton) run through the setlist for their first show.
Tensions rise between the three as they disagree over their changing setlist, with the original songs, co-written by musician Nina Diaz, vocalizing what the characters fail to communicate with one another. Their dynamic is constantly in flux, sometimes becoming an equally balanced love triangle but often failing to keep more than two members on the same page.
By the end of the show, Bell Systems’ attempts at becoming the next big thing fizzle out, falling victim to their miscommunication and doomed surroundings exemplified by an incoming relocation crew.
Garza came up with the seeds of what would become “Adobe Punk” in 2019. While the core idea has stayed intact, the piece evolved over the years, with the creative team adding new songs and tightening the show. The result is a hybrid between a traditional production and a concert, closer to the performance art concept Garza envisioned.
The new version of the play presents a new, uncommon challenge to the theater world for the cast, all three of whom also play the instruments on top of playing as their respective characters.
The actors, some of whom had to learn their instruments for their roles, now have to prepare themselves for a continuous show with no breaks. Once they step on stage, they stay there for the next hour and a half.
“It presents a lot of new challenges,” said Garza. “Any theatrical production is pretty difficult to pull off, but I’m always so amazed at how the actors just get all these lines memorized and remember all these cues. It’s pretty confounding and very unknowable to me.”
Garza and Chavez, who are actually mother and son, can trace their family history back to the burned adobe home, which inspired the production and was owned by their ancestors: the Californios. Californios were the Spanish and Mexican ranchers who lived in Southern California and were among the land’s earliest known settlers, only predated by the native Tongva people.
Both Garza, 29, and Chavez, 68, turned to music as a creative outlet during their respective youths. Garza was introduced to punk through his parents and The Smell, a venue in downtown L.A. he frequented that’s similarly intimate like the Lincoln Heights space. There, his appreciation for music like punk and hardcore deepened, sticking with him throughout his life.
“There’s this whole new group of bands that are playing,” said Garza. “I don’t know any of the people who are playing. But it’s just because there’s another group of inspired kids who have taken it upon themselves to form bands and get shows booked at The Smell. I think that’s a really, really special thing to see…It works against the ‘punk is dead’ ethos.”
Chavez lived on the Sunset Strip during the 1980s, the period the play takes place. At the time, she lived close by clubs like the Whisky a Go Go and Starwood, where everyone from X and The Plugz played.
“It really lit the fire for me creatively,” said Chavez. “It was the kind of DIY, independent spirit that was very inspiring. That you don’t have to work under the aegis of some corporate label, whether that’s for profit or not for profit. You don’t have to wait for permission.”
“Adobe Punk” also features a photo exhibit in the lobby of Margot Albert Theatre from Theresa Kereakes. Kereakes, a punk-rock photographer from Los Angeles, got in touch with Chavez through mutual colleagues before finding out they were neighbors when the two lived on the Sunset Strip.
“All those scenes shared common ground – young people were rebelling against an unacceptable status quo in socio-economic and political arenas,” said Kereakes. “In Hollywood, it was kind of sophisticated as far as youth culture goes. It was poetic and a piss-take in the smoke and mirrors of Hollywood.”
The characters in “Adobe Punk” are similarly fed up with the status quo, whether it be the powers that be, disapproving parents or each other. Six years after Garza came up with “Adobe Punk,” the collaboration we saw with him and his mother reflects a period still pressing in its messaging, with sentiments that ring true for many today.
“It’s inspiring to collaborate with someone that you trust,” said Chavez.
“It doesn’t mean you have the same exact sensibility, but you trust their sensibility. Or, you have a lot of respect for their sensibility, so that when they offer something that would alter your idea, you’re open to that.”
“Adobe Punk” is playing at Plaza de la Raza’s Margo Albert Theatre (3540 N. Mission Road) with shows available through April 13th. $35 tickets are available for local residents, with general admission at $40. Reserved seating tickets are $45. You can purchase tickets online.
