Why not in my community? And why don’t I see myself represented? Those two questions are the driving forces behind Josefina Lopez, a pioneer in theater and someone who has always made a point to uplift her neighborhood while shining a light on the issues most important to it.
Her story is one of progression. At the age of five, Josefina Lopez and her family immigrated from her birthplace of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to Boyle Heights. After joining the first graduating class of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, she was able to change her migratory status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
While doing so, Lopez worked in her sister’s sewing factory for a year. It was there where the aspiring playwright would get her inspiration for her most famous piece of work, “Real Women Have Curves”.
Set in an East Los Angeles sweatshop, the story focuses on an 18-year-old woman struggling with her ambitions of becoming a writer and the clashing expectations of her family. As alluded to in the title, the play was a groundbreaking celebration of diversity in women’s shapes and sizes.
“I wrote it because it was my story,” said Lopez, pointing out that her play’s central character was much like herself at that age.
Thirty-five years later, ‘Real Women Have Curves: The Musical’ is having its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in anticipation of a potential run on Broadway next year. Directed and choreographed by award-winner Sergio Trujillo, and written by veteran playwright Lisa Loomer with music and lyrics by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, the musical adaptation opens December 14 and runs through January 21.
This new version of ‘Real Women’ is bringing renewed attention to Lopez, whose mission of helping launch theater artists is at the center of her work at CASA 0101, a small community theater in Boyle Heights.
This is not the play’s first adaptation since ‘Real Women Have Curves’ premiered at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco in 1990. Shortly thereafter Lopez was approached by Warner Bros. about making a movie adaption of her play, and she took that opportunity to show her work to a much broader audience.
“When a story is powerful, it’s universal,” said Lopez, adding that writing Real Women was her way of “documenting being undocumented.”
With a screenplay co-written by George LaVoo and directed by Patricia Cardoso, the original film version opened in theaters nationwide in 2002. The young protagonist, America Ferrera, went on to earn a spot in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, in 2019.
In late 2018, Lopez was approached by Broadway theatrical producers Jack Noseworthy and Barry Weissler, who believed “Real Women Have Curves” had the potential to become a Musical.
Lopez had already dabbled with the idea of transforming her work into a musical, presenting a workshop version in 2008 at her CASA 0101 Theater’s original 1st Street location.
Lopez loved the idea, later meeting with director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo in 2019 when he was in Los Angeles doing the Donna Summers musical.
“His mother was a seamstress and he wanted to do the show because he had been undocumented while on Broadway dancing,” Lopez recalled. “He wanted to acknowledge being an immigrant and also honor his mother with this story.”
Lopez also met with fellow Latina playwright Lisa Loomer, who had been commissioned to write the musical’s book –essentially the play’s plot and spoken dialogues.
In a note recently made public, Loomer shared that the issues in “Real Women”, while set in 1987, are just as pressing today.
The American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, where the play is having its premiere run, has been a funnel for musicals to enter Broadway – and Lopez welcomes the opportunity to see her work on the New York stage.
“Issues like immigration and citizenship, not to mention the issue of what we now call ‘body acceptance.’ There was no name for that back then!”
“They need something like this on Broadway,” Lopez said.
The playwright is well aware of what it could mean if the musical is well-received by audiences. She said she hoped the musical would get people to invest in her movies and produce her next plays.
“I write great stories,” she said. “Sometimes I write them 10-20 years before the consciousness is ready and before the audiences are ready.”
Besides working with new playwrights at CASA 0101 Theater, the 54-year-old playwright has explored the idea of opening a film school. Lopez said there’s so much knowledge and wisdom that she wants to share with young people.
“So they can save themselves five or ten years of frustration, and how you tap into your spirit to access your creativity in your unconscious mind,” she said. “I want to save people time, and to get really profound, powerful stories.”
