It’s a stage production about something that’s come and gone decades ago. I spoke to SAY Si’s Joy Jimenez about what La Carpa Garcia was.
“They were a traveling tent show.”
The ‘they’ is the extended Garcia Family.
“They were a family that took their tents—the Carpas—around to many neighborhoods and Mexican barrios around the southwest,” she explained.
This was back in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. They were singers, dancers, circus performers, entertainers.
“They ended up settling in San Antonio when the Carpas shut down in the '40s,” said Jimenez.
Fast forward to the present: SAY Si’s Alas Youth Theater Company is putting on a production to remember La Carpa Garcia. Jimenez details what the production is about.
“We have acts that are coming in. Students are doing their own singing. They’re playing some music, doing a little bit of dancing, balancing" she said. "One of our members knows how to fire eat, so he’ll be eating fire. And we also have a few musicians, guest musicians that are coming in, to add as well.”
And then there’s this interesting angle.
“It’s been adapted for the stage by Adriana Garcia, who is a descendent of the Garcia family” said Jimenez.
It all happens next Friday thru Sunday, the 26th through the 28th at SAY Si’s 1518 South Alamo headquarters.
“It’s the type of theater that brings out stuff, it brings out stories that are relevant to the community and to the people that are working on it” she said.
Adults get in for ten dollars, but Jimenez adds “Children and students always have free admission to any of our productions.”
We’ve more on La Carpa Garcia here: https://www.stayclassy.org/san-antonio/events/la-carpa-garcia-presale-tickets/e37437
