On Thursday evening, May 27, comedian Paul Rodriguez and four-time Grammy Award winner Arturo Sandoval celebrated a benefit concert at the Century Club for the Beyond Borders: Literacy Through Performing Arts Program sponsored by the East L.A. Classic Theatre (ECT).  Incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) in 1995, the ECT was originally developed by actor Tony Plana and other high-profile Latinos in entertainment.  Tony Plana is now Executive Artistic Director and leads the organization along with an eleven-person Board of Directors.  The ECT was founded to address the cultural and educational needs of the region's minority communities, primarily underserved, low- and moderate-income families and at-risk children and youth.  Established in 1996, the Beyond Borders:  Literacy Through Performing Arts Program consists of professional tours of classical plays re-imagined for young people, as well as classroom-based literacy residencies.  In conjunction, two other programs are offered:  Beyond Borders to Bright Futures, which seeks to expose high school students to the college environment while introducing them to careers in the entertainment industry; and Beyond Borders Family Series, in which culturally relevant musical adaptations of Shakespeare and other classics are presented at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre for students, teachers and the general public. 

When asked about what prompted him to start these programs, Tony Plana had the following

(l-r) Arturo Sandoval, Paul Rodriguez, Tony Plana, LA Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa

to say:  "I got tired of just motivational speaking as a celebrity, and I wanted to really roll up my sleeves and get involved in the educational struggle.  I wanted a chance to apply what I've learned as an actor and theatre arts, and apply those theatre arts, those techniques to education.  I feel that the classroom needs to think outside the box, especially with the minority kids who are dropping out and disconnecting.  We need to outreach to them in ways that haven't been used before, and see if we can connect with them personally and have them connect with language on a personal level so that they start to own language.  And we see that through this program.  It facilitates acquisition of language.  It accelerates it by six months according to teachers.  So they get to play and learn, and they have fun at the same time.  And it's not just throwing textbooks at them and putting them through the same process that they're used to going through every time they fail in the classroom.  So it's really thinking outside the box.  And one of the great things about it is that we're using actors.  We train the actors in a special curriculum, and we have them collaborate with language arts teachers.  As you know, we

Tony Plana & Hector Elizondo

have 100,000 SAG actors in this town.  Ninety-five percent are unemployed, but a high percentage, I would say 75% of them have a degree.  They go to college, so they're educated.  And they're sitting there, waiting tables and tending bar.  So we want to get those wonderfully trained and educated people into the classroom, helping us fight the educational struggle.  That's really what it's about.  It's called Beyond Borders.  It's pushing these kids beyond their barrio borders, cultural borders, educational borders, psychological borders, vocational borders, and getting them to look at entertainment, getting them to look at different ways of seeing themselves in a positive way."  

Attending the benefit concert were many Latinos prominent in politics, business and of course, entertainment.  Among the celebrities present that night were Hector Elizondo, Maria Conchita Alonso, Yancey Arias, and several cast members from Resurrection Boulevard and American Family.  The evening began with an hors-d'oeuvres and cocktail reception and was followed by Tony Plana's introduction to the cause at hand:  "These are programs we have developed called Beyond Borders: Literacy Through Performing Arts, the application of performing arts to improve literacy, particularly with English learners.  And we have had phenomenal success pushing the Stanford scores along 10 to 15 points.  Their [student] attendance has improved, homework completion, class participation, inclination to write, creativity, self-confidence.  They're joining the student body government more often than they used to.  These programs are in four school districts:  Baldwin Park, Montebello, L.A.

Mr/Mrs Yancy Arias (Kingpin)

Unified and San Bernadino.  These programs are being threatened by the fiscal cuts in the state of California, so we've had to go to the rescue and raise some money so we can keep these programs going in the coming year, and that's what it's about."  Paul Rodriguez followed with his stand-up comedy and drew the crowd in, even the most hardcore of L.A. Laker fans who were watching game four of the western semifinals on the screens throughout the bar.  "Tony Plana and I have been friends for a long time," said Paul.  "We've done several movies together, and he really is a very good actor.  And at the time that I was trying to learn how to act, he introduced me to Raul Julia, who is a great, great, great Latino actor, Puerto Rican.  He did Shakespeare.  And through him, I was able to meet major actors and learn, so I owe him that much."  Paul kept the crowd laughing long and hard until jazz maestro Arturo Sandoval took to the stage and mesmerized everyone with his musical genius by playing practically every instrument at his disposal.  All in all, the benefit concert was hugely entertaining and a big success for a great cause.  For more information on the ECT and Beyond Borders, please visit  www.eastlaclassic.org.

 Ricardo Acuña at writericardoacuna@socal.com.