In Washington DC, a Spanish-language theater offers a refuge from ICE

The iconic GALA Hispanic Theater in Washington, D.C., a pioneer in presenting Spanish-language plays in the U.S. capital, hasn’t been immune to the impact of Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies. Faced with the intensification of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across D.C., this center for Hispanic culture has become a refuge for the Latino community on more than one occasion. “When things were really bad in this area, there was a time when we couldn’t leave the theater after the 10 p.m. rehearsal. We had to stay put until 5 a.m., with two actors who were crying the whole time,” Gustavo Ott sighs. Born in Venezuela, he’s the artistic director at the theater, which is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The young Latinos studying acting under his supervision suffered persecution by ICE agents, who followed them home to arrest their parents.The neighborhood where the theater is located, Columbia Heights, was one of the first where residents confronted agents, blowing whistles to alert locals about their presence and putting chalk on the wheels of unmarked ICE vehicles. And the anguish and resilience of the community will be brought to the stage at GALA this season. In June of 2027, the theater will present Botiquín de mariachis de Columbia Heights (with the English title Columbia Heights Mariachi Bar), by Mexican playwright Jaime Chabaud. It’s a portrait of resilience, hope and quiet resistance, reflecting the current reality. “We’ve lived through major crises here,” Ott points out.Role reversalThe theater troupe’s support for the Latino community dates back to its origins. GALA — an acronym for Grupo de Artistas Latinoamericanos (“Group of Latin American Artists”) — was founded in 1976, in order to promote Hispanic culture in a country where the Spanish language wasn’t widely spoken and the traditions were different. The gamble taken by the founding couple, Hugo and Rebecca Medrano — a theater director born in Argentina and an American dancer — was innovative. Putting on Spanish-language plays in Washington, D.C. and in the mid-1970s, at that, by no means guaranteed success. Being the only theater in town that offered plays in Spanish attracted the Latino audience, a growing community in the city. And, for everyone else, the couple decided to use subtitles. At the time, this was an unusual role reversal and it has continued to this day. Upon entering the theater – located in a century-old building in the Columbia Heights neighborhood – the three screens surrounding the stage immediately catch your eye: one on each side, with another one above it. And then, the cascade of English-language phrases begins. This is a nod to the experience of segments of the Latino community, who are accustomed to having to read the dialogue when their lack of knowledge of the most widely-spoken language in the country prevents them from following a story.“It’s magnificent. I speak some Spanish, but the person accompanying me doesn’t. So, they can read the subtitles. It’s a way to promote Hispanic culture and it’s part of the Washington community,” says Rochelle Granat, an American woman seated in the theater’s bar.The beginnings were modest. Hugo – an actor, who emigrated to Spain after the 1966 military coup in Argentina – didn’t want to stay in the European country, which was emerging from Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. And so, he decided to try his luck in the United States. Unwilling to give up his acting career, he and his wife decided to found a theater to serve the Latino community and offer them what wasn’t available at the time: culture in their own language.“It was a great opportunity for the Latino community to have access to theater. The fact that it’s in Spanish is what I like most,” says Álvaro García, a Colombian man who has been attending GALA’s plays for three decades. On Thursday, September 17, he and his American wife attended the performance. His Colombian friend and the man’s partner (also regular theatergoers) joined them. Hugo and Rebecca started their venture in a garage in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. They later moved to a warehouse and a convent school, until the opportunity arose to set up shop in the Columbia Heights building. The property is steeped in history: it served as a grand musical theater in the 1920s, before becoming a movie theater. The building was one of the few to survive in a predominantly African American neighborhood where, in 1968, following the assasination of Martin Luther King Jr., numerous riots took place. The locals, who had grown up going to the theater, marked it, in order to prevent it from being burned down. The area became conflict-ridden and the theater was eventually abandoned. It stood empty for many years, until it re-emerged as a survivor from a previous era.Lorca, with subtitles The neighborhood has changed, and so has the audience. There are increasingly more spectators who don’t speak Spanish and have to read the subtitles, including younger generations of Latinos. “Nowadays, we’re very surprised. Because, for example, we performed The House of Bernarda Alba (1936) in January and February of this year. And [the theater] was full of people who didn’t speak the language. It’s [by Federico García] Lorca and they came to read [the subtitles],” Ott notes. He explains that one of the reasons for the theater’s success is the quality of the translations. “We believe that the translation has to be of a high, literary standard. It can’t simply be an AI thing,” he says. “It’s not just about communicating with the audience. The audience has to feel pleasure because they’re reading something worthwhile. Our translations are very literary,” he emphasizes. Last year, the subtitles were written in verse for the translation of Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna (1619). One of the keys to survival is adaptation. Hence, the GALA Hispanic Theater is now looking to attract new generations of Latinos who don’t speak Spanish, while also expanding its audience by focusing on bilingualism during performances. Approximately 30% of GALA’s audience doesn’t speak Spanish. Accordingly, the theater has begun introducing English through musicals. Garbo, the unsung Spanish heroTo make their performances accessible to non-Spanish speakers, the production company has chosen to stage Garbo: The Actor Who Saved the World, a play running until September 27. Garbo is the code name of Juan Pujol, a Spanish spy who became a key figure in the success of the D-Day landings that helped bring an end to World War II. Ott wrote the script. He explains that Garbo “is a hero whose story resonates with the traditional American community that doesn’t speak Spanish, because they recognize elements of World War II and they’re familiar with what happened in Normandy.”Pujol, without any prior training, became a double agent who invented an imaginary network of spies to deceive the Germans into believing that the Allies would launch their attack at Pas-de-Calais, not Normandy. As a result, the Nazi army concentrated its resources in the wrong place. For the British, his name was Garbo; for the Germans, he was Arabel. His cover was so successful that he received military decorations from both sides of the conflict: he was awarded the Iron Cross by the Nazis and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.Preparations for the 2027-2028 theatrical season have already begun. The selection of plays to be performed is based on GALA’s “seasonal themes.” And, this time around, they’re looking ahead to the 2028 presidential elections. “‘Confrontation,’ for example, might be one of the words we use. We’ll also keep in mind that our community is constantly being persecuted, even around the theater. So, ‘persecution’ will be another one,” Ott affirms.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition