Amazing refugee story that echoes Ukraine suffering to be told on Laois stage

Directed and co-written by Janet Moran (A Holy Show, Swing), Looking for América is the real-life story of writer and performer Federico (Fede) Julián González to be told on stage in Laois this March.

Following his father’s arrest by a Military Junta, at the age of five, Fede and his family were  forced to flee the Salvadoran Civil war. There followed years of continuous moving throughout Latin America with his mother and brother as they sought sanctuary.

In 2019, Fede and his 74-year-old mother set off on a quest through Havana to look for América. Shared memories, conflicting recollections and offline maps led them through their  past. A past peopled with ghosts scattered among grand avenues, dark lanes and unnerving dead ends in the city that had taken them in, more than 30 years before.

They spoke to shop-keepers, taxi drivers, old ladies and more importantly to each other. When they were about to give up, they found her.

Looking for América charts two journeys. The journey of that night in Havana looking for a Salvadoran ex-Guerilla fighter called América, and the journey of escaping the catastrophe that had engulfed his country decades before. A catastrophe whose after effects still resonate today.

The show will be staged in the Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise at 8pm on Thursday, March 31.

Tickets from the Centre's box office at www.dunamaise.ie

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The show is written and performed by Federico Julián González and written and directed by Janet Moran. Lighting Design is  by Colin Doran and AV Design by Neil O’Driscoll. Sound Design by Mark Jackson

Funded by the Arts Council it is supported by Draíocht Blanchardstown and Pavilion Theatre.