But there are several reasons why he hopes you will.
“Americans !” begins with one of the most painful moments of Valdovinos’ youth – the day he tried to join the Marines at his high school in Arizona, but ended up learning that he was an undocumented immigrant and that he could not.
“It’s not a show for me. It’s actually, really what happened. And watching it in person just hurts me a little bit,” Valdovinos said.
Everything changed for him that day. The future he had dreamed of evaporated in an instant. And his life took several turns that he did not expect.
Becoming the subject of a musical, says Valdovinos, is just the latest example.
Valdovinos, 31, is now a political consultant and no stranger to sharing his story. But as “¡Americano!” begins his off-Broadway run, he hopes new audiences will learn from — and be inspired by — his experiences.
The coronavirus pandemic delayed the show’s New York debut. But Valdovinos says his message is more urgent than ever.
The day he found out he was undocumented marked an end and a beginning
Valdovinos still remembers the time he asked his mother for the papers he would need to join the Marines.
He was nearly 18, and a military recruiter at his high school had just sent Valdovinos home after learning he was born in Mexico. But Valdovinos had dreamed of enlisting for years, ever since he had seen the World Trade Center towers collapsing on television, and he was determined to return to the recruiting office with paperwork in hand.
“My mom just started breaking down. She started crying. … Her whole demeanor changed. Her energy changed, her shoulders changed,” Valdovinos said. “And she told me the truth.”
Valdovinos was born in Colima, Mexico, and brought to the United States when he was two years old. Before his mother’s revelation the day he tried to join the Marines, Valdovinos says he had no idea he was undocumented. And after that day, he suddenly found himself unsure of his path in life.
This is where “¡Americano!” begins, but far from where the story ends.
The musical then depicts Valdovinos’ discovery of a new mission as a political organizer and eventually founding his own political consulting firm.
Eventually, he landed a job as a field manager during Ruben Gallego’s run for Congress.
Gallego, now a Democratic congressman from Arizona, is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq. And as Valdovinos sees it, even though he was never able to join the Marines, he was able to serve with one.
“Being told to leave by the Marine Corps was a very big experience. But…meeting a Marine, who taught me how to cut out political maps and knock on doors and canvas, was just as impactful And I think that’s what ‘¡American!’ is,” Valdovinos says. “It’s a back-and-forth story, but without giving up.”
DACA protects him from deportation. But her future is uncertain
It’s been almost a decade since then.
Year after year, politicians on both sides of the aisle have said they would support legislation that gives Dreamers a chance to become lawful permanent residents and eventually US citizens.
“We feel like professionals in limbo. Literally my whole life has passed, my whole youth has been with me in politics, hoping we’re going to get some aid or some policy, and realizing the country is not more focused on that,” says Valdovinos.
He says he hopes “¡Americano!” “reviving this conversation”, in Washington and across the country.
They see the show as a new avenue for activism
And Valdovinos says he heard audience members leave the theater saying they had “no idea Dreamers even existed”.
The ability to reach new audiences was a big selling point, Valdovinos says, when a creative team at the Phoenix Theater Company pitched the idea of writing a musical based on his life.
The theater approached him, he says, after hearing an interview on NPR about his work knocking on doors to reach Latino voters. He had never imagined that the story of his life could be found on stage.
“I sat with them for two hours almost seven years ago, and I told them the whole story of my life and my pains, my struggles, the things that inspired me, the things that happened , the things that didn’t happen,” he says. “And they decided after a week that they wanted to put that into a production.”
Years later, “¡Americano!” made its stage debut at this theater, featuring the music of singer-songwriter Carrie Rodriguez.
“I realized we could knock on doors forever and get chewed out by people who weren’t supportive of us, or have to beg people to care in the first place,” Valdovinos said. “But at the end of the day, when you watch a movie or a piece of art that resonates with you, I think it’s a lot more impactful.”
And Valdovinos isn’t the only one hoping for “¡Americano!” will help the story of Dreamers like him reach a different audience.
It was one of the main things Max Gonzales says he had in mind when his organization, Chicanos Por La Causa, decided to invest $1.75 million to help fund the show’s run in New York.
“We really wanted to be part of the show because of its significance and its strength,” he says.
‘I’m American’
“Americans !” officially opened its off-Broadway run at New World Stages on May 1, and the show is scheduled to run through June 19. From there, its backers hope it will be destined for Broadway.
No matter what happens next, Valdovinos says he’s excited to see the show’s message spread, even if the performances are too painful for him to watch.
In one issue of the series, “Dreamer”, the character Valdovinos – played in Phoenix and now New York by Sean Ewing – recounts a ballad of belonging:
It’s my house
My heart, my soul
Who can say that this great country that I have sworn to defend is no longer mine?
I’m not alone
My roots are sown
Who can say that this great country that I have sworn to defend is no longer mine?
I’m not alone
My roots are sown
All I ever knew was that I’m American
It’s my house
It’s a message that Valdovinos hopes will resonate beyond the political arena as well.
“I hope someone who is at least close to the mentality I was in back when everything seemed impossible, realizes that it’s possible just by changing a little perspective and having a little more courage throughout your journey, no matter where it is,” he says.
He knows how quickly fortunes can turn. And even when he’s not in the audience, he’ll clap “¡Americano!” to succeed.
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