BLOG: What it Was Like Being in "The Breedless Kitsch"

This high school senior is definitely a stranger to the Drama Department; well, at least I was. Not even in elementary school did I participate in something like a school play.

But Senior year overall has been a huge year of trying new things from participating in "DHS Factor" to advancing as a finalist on "DHS Idol". This year has been full of new experiences and memorable performances. Now a lot of people ask me, "how did you get into this play?" to which I reply "the play got me." You see, once I understood the message the play held, there was absolutely no way I could say no. 

"The Breedless Kitsch" is a play written by UCD graduate Ben Moroski and is partially written in response to a hate crime that occurred at Davis Senior High School in 2012. Mrs. Bruch contacted Ben and asked that he write something in response to spread awareness among the Davis community. The hate crime that occurred was the hanging of a noose at the school football field on the goal post.The play itself which is set in a town like Davis deals with a noose being hanged in response to an African American student and his role as the quarterback. 

Now the reason I jumped into this play and dedicated all my time to it was because of the message behind it. It's about spreading awareness of the community we live in and the history our community has. There were many other elements of the play that dealt with very current and controversial issues, in my opinion.

I played Detective Joseph Ramirez who is in charge of heading this investigation of the noose. My character is an old-school half white, half Mexican middle-aged man. Although it was a challenge memorizing monologues and lines, it was an extraordinary experience being surrounded by a conglomerate of people. The diversity that took place in this play was a rare occurrence in the community. I met people that I would never have met if I had not done this play.

Before I get carried away, the reason so many of my fellow performers (including myself) were in this play is because we have racial experiences with Davis. It was our way of showing people what happens in our subgroup of the community and how wrong others' degrading actions can be. For many people, it made them think about what this town really is and the issues that we haven't seem to have tackled yet despite other advancements.   

Back to the experience: I don't believe my heart has ever beat so loud and hard than when I first participated in this show; especially opening night. This piece is very straight-forward and you never know how the crowd is going to react. In all honesty, some nights it was very apparent that even they didn't how to react. Despite the spontaneity, there was a lot of clapping which helped the actors feel supported and encouraged. It was a bit stressful at times but was definitely worth it. This play pushed me to try new things and "go for it."

I wanted to follow my own steps as written in my previous blog which mentions the challenge of "getting out of the box." Looking back, it still comes as a surprise to me that I actually followed through with it. All the practice and effort. It was an amazing experience. I was a part of history.

I, Jose Arzaluz, was in an original play that gave me a voice to which I could express how I felt about my experiences in Davis. It was a great experience and I look forward to the next one.