Musical celebrates undocumented students

“In and Out of Shadows,” a musical by famed Chicano writer and Fresno native Gary Soto, is coming to Merced for a special one-night-only show on Saturday.

Performed by the San Francisco Youth Theatre DREAM ensemble, the show will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Merced Theatre’s Art Kamangar Center, 301 W. Main St. Tickets are $5 at the door.

“Gary Soto is wildly popular among Latino youth, and this musical shows why,” said Alex Delgadillo, associate director in charge of services for undocumented students and special populations through UC Merced’s Calvin E. Bright Success Center. “He has a knack for understanding young-adult audiences and accurately reflecting their experiences and feelings in his works.”

The play is the final event of The World Upside Down Conference, presented by the UC Merced Center for the Humanities. The conference explores all the ways in which people have imagined and experienced upside-down worlds.

The show is both funny and serious in its depiction of undocumented youths from the Bay Area – “DREAMers” preparing for a conference about the law that allows eligible students to attend college at in-state tuition rates. Many of the families represented in the show have mixed status – undocumented parents whose children were born in the U.S., for example – and live in constant fear of family separation.

“We all know that tomorrow, any one of us could have our world turned upside down due to circumstances beyond our control,” said Christina Lux, assistant director of the humanities center. “This performance challenges us to acknowledge the amazing resilience and great promise of our nation’s youth who are fighting to keep their families together and build for the future.”

The conference, on Friday and Saturday, will feature various talks and research presentations. Author and human rights activist Marjorie Agosín will deliver the keynote address.

“In and Out of Shadows” was brought to Merced with support from the Center for the Humanities, Arts UC Merced Presents, the California Endowment, UC Merced’s Graduate Division, and the campus’s offices of admissions and services for undocumented students and special populations.

Students attending Bobcat Day – UC Merced’s annual open house for newly admitted students – on Saturday are invited to attend the performance with their families. A limited number of free tickets are also available to members of the general public and can be picked up at Building Healthy Communities, 658 W. Main St., Merced. For information, call Isaí Palma at (209) 383-4242.

“ ‘In and Out of Shadows’ is an entertaining musical that shows the importance of access to higher education, which is one of UC Merced’s core commitments,” said Susan Amussen, director of the center. “This play is one more way of demonstrating that commitment.”

‘Smart’ way to save water

New software developed at UC Merced allows anyone on campus with a smartphone to report water leaks in a couple of easy steps.

Facilities and Operations in mid-March installed quick-response-code stickers in all the restrooms in the Social Sciences and Management (SSM) building. There are two different QR codes – one for leaky sinks and the other for leaky toilets – individually programmed for each specific restroom.

Users need only scan the appropriate codes with the barcode scanner apps that are on most smartphones. The scan automatically generates a work request that tells Facilities exactly which restroom it comes from.

The team behind the “Report a Water Leak” program – Campus Energy Manager Varick Erickson, Facilities’ Director of Energy and Sustainability Zuhair Mased and Facilities’ Director of Operations Jon Lampman – said the goal is to conserve water, increase sustainability and encourage the campus community to participate by reporting leaks.

Erickson developed the QR codes because the process of filling out repair requests was cumbersome, likely preventing some people from reporting leaks at all. Eventually the QR code stickers could be programmed to specify exactly which toilet or which faucet has problems, and the plan is to deploy the QR codes across campus, in every place with a faucet or toilet, including labs and showers.

“This is our smart way of responding to the drought,” Mased said. “Not only can the software help save water, it can save the campus money and labor.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Musical celebrates undocumented students."