Dates & Times

Check out our Social Justice Saturdays!

Check out our Virtual Panel hosted by the University of Denver at Curious!

Articles to Read

• Biden Administration Indefinitely Extended Title 42 by Save the Children
• Reinstatement of “Remain in Mexico” Program Puts Children at Harm by Save the Children
• The U.S. Immigration Debate by Claire Felter, Danielle Renwick & Amelia Cheatham
• What’s Happening at the U.S. – Mexico Border in 7 Charts by John Gramlich & Alissa Scheller
• Why Care About Undocumented Immigrants? by Mary Jo Dudley

Resources to Stay Educated & Up-to-Date

• Border Angels
• Border Report
• Council on Foreign Relations
• Texas Tribune
• Washington Office on Latin America

Local and National Organizations to Continue the Conversation

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Asian Pacific Development Center (APDC)
• Casa de Paz
• Coloradans for Immigrant Rights
• Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC)
• Colorado People’s Alliance
• Comal Heritage Food Incubator
• International Rescue Committee—Denver Chapter
• Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Clinic (JAMLAC)
• Latino Cultural Arts Center (LCAC)
• Latino Community Foundation of Colorado (LCFC)
• Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition
• #MeWeInternational Inc.
• Mi Casa Resource Center
• Museo de las Américas
• Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
• Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning
• Su Teatro
• Together Colorado

Curious Theatre Company and The Denver Public Library recommends these library resources to enhance your theatre experience of REFUGE!

READ 

The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú 

Told in three progressively more soul-searching parts, Francisco Cantú’s memoir of his nearly four years as a border patrol agent describes the borderlands and his work there with a raw-nerved tenderness that seems to have been won from both the landscape and, disconcertingly, the violence he was implicated in.

WATCH

Crossing Arizona, dir. Daniel DeViv and Joseph Mathew (2006) 

This timely documentary reveals the complicated dilemmas presented by the US/Mexico border crisis, and the surprising political stances people take when immigration policy fails everyone. The film has screened around the world, garnering 8 international awards and honors. Stream it on Kanopy, free to all Denver residents with your library card.

LISTEN

Immigration Nation by Charlie Porter

Refuge features passionate original music and so too does this jazz album. The songs combine the influences of immigrants in America as heard through saxophone, piano, bass, and drums. Porter’s expressive style follows the intricacies of the immigrant experience, the combined hope and fear, the yearning, and the angst. Let the music move you as dramatically as the play does.

DOWNLOAD 

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

Although a bit darker than Refuge, this well-known gothic horror novel tells an alternate story on abandoned children with only each other to rely on. Chris, Cathy, and the twins are to be kept hidden until their grandfather dies so that their mother will receive a sizable inheritance, however, years pass and terrifying things occur as the four children grow up in their one room prison. Read by award-winning actress Mena Suvari.

FREQUENTLY USED TERMINOLOGY

CBP: Customs & Border Patrol Agency
Coyote: human smuggler
Chupacabra: myth, legend of a demon thought
to suck blood
Cutting the sign: tracking
Hither thither: the disturbance of the Earth from
human or something else
Mesquite: thorny “trash trees” of the desert
Saint Toribio Romo: the patron saint of immigrants
Tonk: slur used by Border Patrol & others referring
to the sound a Maglite makes when hitting the head
of an undocumented migrant
Victoria [Texas]: shorthand for the May 2003 tragedy
where 19 undocumented migrants died crossing the
border in a tractor trailer
Yuma [Arizona]: shorthand for the tragedy in
May 2001 where 14 undocumented migrants died
crossing the border

In Media

• Curious Theatre’s latest play, about migration at the U.S.-Mexico border, is still relevant, despite debuting years after its scheduled premiere

  by Maggie Donahue

  The play uses puppetry, music and lingual storytelling to inspire empathy for those making the harrowing journey across the U.S.-Mexico border...REFUGE tells the story of a Honduran teenage girl making the journey across the U.S.-Mexico border to reunite with her mother, who crossed the border years back and is now...

• “REFUGE”A Story Of Pursuit, Danger, & Empathy, Now Thru April 9th At Denver’s Curious Theatre

  by Latin Life Denver

  Superb, astonishing, open and direct, a must see, were just a few of the accolades following the opening night of the world premiere of REFUGE at the Denver’s Curious Theatre March 5, 2022. The five minute rousing standing ovation at the end of the production was a further testament to the excellence of this heart wrenching, thought provoking play...

• Marlowe's Musings

  by David Marlowe

  Hat’s off to director Dee Covington and her cast and crew for their compassionate and creative opus, “Refuge.” Curious Theatre is once again helping with humanitarian awareness. This time it’s all about what’s going on regarding the men and women who undertake a formidable migratory journey to cross borders to find...

• “REFUGE” Beautifully Unwraps the Harrowing Crisis for Migrants Crossing the Border

  by Ellie Sullum

  Each year, hundreds of migrants lose their lives attempting to cross the border, including a record 650-plus migrant deaths in 2021. To cross the border, refugees have to trek through the desert, an unrelenting landscape not suitable for almost any form of life. People die of starvation, dehydration, heat exhaustion and animal attacks during journeys that can take months. REFUGE tells their story. An original Curious Theatre Co. Production, REFUGE celebrated its world premiere on March 5. Co-created by Satya Jnani Chavez and Andrew Rosendorf, the play follows three people and two animals on their individual fights for survival and safety in Southern Texas...

• Review: “Refuge” is a gripping border story that focuses on people, not politics

  by Lisa Kennedy

  In “Refuge,” the haunting and grounded new play at Curious Theatre Company, someone we care about will die. That is not a spoiler so much as an acknowledgment that the territory on which the work unfolds can be unforgiving and hungry. Set in the fictional border town of Desolation, Texas, “Refuge” tells the story of the wary meeting of a Honduran migrant trying to get to her mother in the United States and the rancher whose land she wanders onto. With the evocative music of Mari Meza-Burgos, beguiling animal puppets and some poignant-prickly performances, “Refuge” carves out a space to feel...