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Chapter 2 CrashRed Route - An intersection in Boyle Heights
Lucha and Jamson exchange information in the aftermath of their accident.
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Chapter 4 Lucha's Quinceañera SongRed Route - Mariachi Plaza, Boyle Heights
Lucha remembers the day she left her childhood behind.
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Chapter 6 Jameson PortraitYellow Route - The 2nd Street Tunnel, Downtown Los Angeles
Jameson contemplates the multifaceted nature of his personality.
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Chapter 7 The ReunionYellow Route - A Rehearsal Studio in the Arts District
Lucha and Jameson connect at Lucha's performance of Orpheus and Eurydice.
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Chapter 8 First KissRed Route - Hollenbeck Park, East Los Angeles
Romance blooms on Lucha and Jameson's first date.
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Chapter 9 Angel's PointGreen Route - Angel's Point, Elysian Park
Lucha and Jameson share a passionate physical experience.
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Chapter 11 The Floating NebulaGreen Route - The Corn Fields, Los Angeles State Historic Park, Chinatown
The metaphysical peak in Lucha and Jameson's love.
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Chapter 12 WeddingYellow Route - City Hall, Downtown Los Angeles
On their wedding day, Lucha gives Jameson a fateful gift.
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Chapter 14 The Phone Call, Part 1Red Route - Traversing between the Arts District and Boyle Heights
Lucha receives a mysterious phone call from a voice she seems to recognize.
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Chapter 17 Orlando's FairwellRed Route - Evergreen Cemetery
Before leaving Los Angeles, Orlando pays his last respects to his wife.
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Chapter 18 Interlude (Car Wash)Green Route - AirStream Trailer, Elysian Park
Reflect on the impact of a location's geography on a person's psyche.
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Chapter 24 The Red NotebookRed Route - Utter darkness
In a state of darkness, Lucha is haunted by Jameson's red notebook.
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Chapter 25 The Other WomanYellow Route - The Bradbury Building, Downtown Los Angeles
Still submerged in darkness, Lucha dreams of Jameson's infidelity.
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Chapter 26 HadesGreen Route - Bowtie Parcel, Los Angeles River
Lucha descends to the underworld in search of Jameson.
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Chapter 28 Lucha and Orlando in LoveYellow Route - Historic Core, Downtown Los Angeles
After years apart, Lucha and Orlando reunite in Los Angeles.
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Chapter 33 Farewell From the Roof TopsRed Route - Rooftops, Toy Factory Lofts, Biscuit Lofts, Ito Building Tower, Arts District
Lucha makes peace with Jameson's disappearance.
The Phone Call, Part 2
Music by Marc Lowenstein
Text by Mandy Kahn
Special Consideration from Lewis Pesacov and Paul Matthis
Director’s Notes:
“The circle that opened with Chapter 14 is now closed in Chapter 35, as we hear Suzanna Guzmán singing to her younger self,
‘A thousand streets lead into one great road, and no gate blocks your way.’
“What was scary and anxious in Chapter 14 is here a transcendent moment. You realize that she always had within her the wisdom to overcome her obstacles, her fears, her traumas. I think it is a beautiful message, that with time and with the process of living, you uncover your true self, your center – the power you had within you all along.
“One of the lines the older Lucha sings to her younger self goes, ‘Time is happening all at once.’ It’s a line that leads Lucha to wonder, in Chapter 15, ‘Is all time simultaneous?’ What I love about this chapter (14 / 35) is that it actually creates a kind of wrinkle in real time. Suzanna and Maria Elena are really singing the same scene to the vision of the other, in two different parts of the city, simultaneously, creating an invisible axis in Los Angeles. Even the geography of their routes reinforced the poetics of their metaphysical connection: the younger self in the heart of historic Boyle Heights, the other winding her way up into the idyllic hills of Elysian Park.
The Lizard People
It is the thought that the city of Los Angeles stands above a lost city of catacombs filled with incalculable treasure and imperishable records of a race of humans far more intellectually and scientifcally advanced than today. The entrance to this city is said to be in Elysian Park.
Legend has it that in the late 1880’s the city hired actors to picnic on the hills to show Angelenos how to use this great park. Then between 1920 and 1940, maps of Elysian Park included streets named after Greek and Roman mythologies. These streets mysteriously disappeared from maps after 1940s, and no physical trace of the streets exists within the park today.
Mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán describes the thrill of pushing herself to the edge of her art with The Industry
“As the penultimate chapter, this chapter was really the one that gives a sense of completion for those following the story in a linear way. But just like the Cortazar novel that inspired this project, the disorientation of skipping from chapter to chapter offers the audience an escape from linear time. Thanks to this website you can follow each chapter of the story and see how each moment in the lives of Lucha, Jameson, and Orlando had a relationship to the ones that follow: but the experience of life is never so linear, and by scrambling the chronological flow, the audience was instead invited to let each moment speak for itself. Rather than present time as a river, Hopscotch showed time as a web (a line given to Jameson in Chapter 6 and Chapter 9).
“Marc’s vocal writing for this chapter is so extraordinary, because it synthesized both the fearful younger Lucha who is frightened by the premonition of the voice on the line, and the blissful older Lucha who feels the circle of her own life closing in the perfect way. It’s like one of the great ensembles of Verdi, where characters harmonize despite singing radically different emotional states and points of view; Marc achieves a perfect musical balance that tells you instantly that these characters are one.”
– Yuval Sharon
“All the moments you have spent
braid together to a play
and the pain will black your eyes,
but your hand will feel a door.
And beyond it is a peace that is fragrant
as a field.
Love is structured
like all time.
I will meet you in that room.”