The Rochester Latino Theatre Company recently staged three sold-out performances of a play that focuses on the true story of struggles to desegregate schools in California.
RHBA member Annette Ramos, who is the executive director of the Latino Theatre Company in Rochester, collaborated with Donald B. Bartalo and his BART Productions to adapt the book “Separate Is Never Equal” into a play that the theater company performed June 10-12.
Ramos and Bartalo received permission from Sylvia Mendez of Fullerton, Calif., to make the adaptation, according to the Democrat and Chronicle. The book “tells the true life story of Sylvia Mendez, a child of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent growing up in the 1940s, and her family’s struggle, along with four other families, to desegregate schools in California,” according to the newspaper.
Mendez flew to Rochester to attend the opening night performance at MuCCC Theater. The show had a cast of 23, including nine children.
