Hope travels fast in 'Esperanza Rising'
'Esperanza Rising' runs at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte in ImaginOn, 300 E. Seventh St., through March 15
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on March 3, 2026. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. Ledger subscribers can add the Toppman on the Arts newsletter on their “My Account” page.
Review: Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s ‘Esperanza Rising’ races through tragedy and upheaval to chart a young girl’s journey during the Great Depression
by Lawrence Toppman
Arson, bandits, murder, a dust storm, a potentially fatal disease, threats by a leering mustachioed villain, exile from a home owned for generations, a near-fatal illness, a strike among migrant workers interrupted by club-wielding cops, the first stirrings of young love — “Esperanza Rising” has enough incidents to fill a multi-episode telenovela.
That’s not surprising, as Pam Muñoz Ryan’s young adult novel runs 300-plus pages in its paperback version. Playwright Alvaro Saar Rios has squeezed these elements into a 70-minute show that blasts forward like the train carrying the 13-year-old heroine from her Mexican ranch to the labor camps of California during the Great Depression. It left me touched by her plight, rooting for her eventual rise after a precipitous fall, overwhelmed and rather exhausted.
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s cast of seven, four of whom play multiple roles, dash around Anita J. Tripathi’s cleverly designed set, of which the main elements are four slender banners that seem to be covered in thorny vines and roses. (Both flora play important parts in the show.) Director Alicia Tafoya controls the narrative chaos by giving us enough moments of quiet to catch our breaths. Snatches of songs in untranslated Spanish by Dinorah Márquez Abadiano briefly induce dreamlike feelings.
Yet the overall impression is one of upheaval and turmoil, suitable for Esperanza’s journey from riches in Aguascalientes to poverty in southern California. The path from spoiled rich girl to disgruntled poor girl to competent young woman dealing with tough circumstances isn’t unfamiliar. But this story, delivered in a well-calculated mixture of English and Spanish, will be new to most theatergoers. (I speak Spanish, so I understood almost all of it, but I think non-speakers should seldom be at a loss for long.)
“Aguascalientes” translates to “hot waters,” and that’s where Esperanza finds herself almost at once. The girl (played by Lucca Amortegui with zest and not too much sweetness) anticipates her 13th birthday, when she’ll add to her closetful of expensive embroidered blouses.
She doesn’t anticipate the death of her father at the hands of bandits, her creepy uncle’s inheritance of the family home — nobody leaves property to a woman in a patriarchy — and the family’s legally documented move to Los Estados Unidos, after his mother (earthy Isabel Gonzalez) rejects the uncle’s marriage proposal.
Esperanza — her name means “hope” or “expectation” — is initially horrified by working alongside her former servants in the vineyards. But as she accustoms herself to circumstances, aided by loyal young semi-suitor Miguel (gentle Julio L. Hernandez), she begins her ascent out of depression to a deeper kind of happiness among family and friends. Two narrators keep up rapid-fire commentary to fill narrative gaps.
The novel came out in 2002, when our federal government had a much different view of immigration, and the play makes no reference to the brutal crackdowns of recent months. It’s set in a time when the United States could still be thought of as a promised land where immigration officials took a tolerant view, with one exception: U.S.-born labor organizer Marta (played with fiery conviction by Melissa Lozada) faces deportation, because she’s a “troublemaker.” (I never expected to hear kids in a CTC audience chant “¡Huelga! Strike!” over and over.)
There are stock figures: two kindly grandmothers (both played by Melissa J. Mendez) and two optimistic papas (ditto, Carlos Luis Nieto). But the younger people have been differentiated just enough, even in such a whirlwind fashion, that we develop relationships with them. They work hard and are willing to assimilate while retaining pride in their Mexican music, food and heritage — just the kind of immigrants we’d want as eventual citizens. Or, perhaps, used to.
If You’re Going
“Esperanza Rising” runs at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte in ImaginOn, 300 E. Seventh St., through March 15. Performances begin at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 4 p.m. Sundays. (No 4 p.m. show on March 15.)
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Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews several times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
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