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Border Crossing is a story of a resilient little girl who is abandoned by human traffickers -coyotes- who makes her way acrossthe Arizona/Mexico border, told through the voices of the desert itself. To tell this story, Off-LeashArea focuses on the heightened spirituality of the Sonoran Desert to highlight this human drama, while embracing the complexity of the current political debate. The award-winning company uses itssingular hybrid approach of fusing movement and interactive scenic elements to tell the story in auniquely visual way, incorporating dance influenced by prayer and ritual and puppetry
constructedfrom the flotsam left behind by desperate peoples forced to search for a better life.

Along with text written by Anishinaabe playwright Marcie Rendon and music composed by Ben Siems, Border Crossing is informed by stories from small-town Mexican citizens, Tucson snowbirds, Latino Border Patrolmen, and Native social workers told firsthand to the artistic team while they were researching along the border last fall, thanks to a Minnesota State Arts Board Artists' Initiative Grant.

"Rendon’s script, which is excerpted and adapted by this production, is loaded with rich detail...But the theater-makers keep an eye out for another border; that spot where a finely textured, impassioned political statement becomes heavy-handed and indulgent. For the better part of the show, they’re tackling difficult themes with honesty and admirable restraint. " Christy DeSmith - mnartists.org

"The program notes for Border Crossing, Off-Leash Area’s new work, state that “it is not our intention to create a political statement with Border Crossing, at our core not being a politically motivated company, although, as political people will tell you, everything’s political.”

I don’t think they achieved a non-political piece of theater. It is impossible to deal with such provocative subject matter and not have a political point of view. What they have achieved, however, is to create an ambitious, visually stunning epic that is emotionally compelling; and a complex, well-researched exploration of the topic of immigration...Ultimately, however, Border Crossing is a complex work of storytelling, full of discourse and imagery. The production asks more questions than it answers, but it addresses a very important political issue with empathy and grace." Sheila Regan, Education Coordinator for Teatro Del Pueblo
"Without being didactic, "Border Crossing" asks us to reflect on a situation that, as yet, doesn't have one." - Camille Lefevre, Star Tribune

"It's difficult to imagine any work about the U.S.-Mexico border and illegal immigration not being laden with considerable political baggage, but Off-Leash Area has managed the feat with Border Crossing" - Quinton Skinner, City Pages

Actor

http://www.offleasharea.org 

Tizi Ouzou
The Kabyle Folktale Project
Border Crossing
Venus
A Lion's Tale Somali Folktales
Boum!
1962
The Palace of the End