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As soccer fans gear up for the 2014 World Cup next summer in Brazil, protesters have already started voicing their concerns about an event which will cost the Brazilian people $14 billion dollars at a time when basic infrastructure like schools, hospitals and roads are in disrepair. And, while billions are spent on men’s soccer, women’s soccer gets nowhere near the same financial support or attention.

Now, a powerful new play written and performed by Karen Anzoategui called simply ¡Ser! puts soccer at the center of a story about a woman’s search for identity. In the one woman play, Anzoategui’s character is irresistibly drawn to the soccer utopia of Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is also home to her hero, soccer legend Diego Maradona. But this is the Buenos Aires plagued by dirty wars and financial crises and ultimately she must choose between her beloved soccer city and the immigrant’s dream of Los Angeles. In the midst of these tough choices she also explores her own multilayered queer identity.

A reviewer at Arizona State University described ¡Ser! by saying, “Azoategui is dynamic and instantly magnetic and portrays the range of emotions associated with her unfailingly complex narrative. She is heartbroken at one moment, in despair the next, and then gleeful and proud, all in a way that is brave and painfully real …”

¡Ser! is directed by Marcos Najera and a musical collaboration with Louie Perez of Los Lobos, Cava, and Walter Miranda.

GUEST: Karen Anzoategui, writer and performer of ¡Ser!

¡Ser! is playing at the Los Angeles Theater Center, 514 South Spring Street, Los Angeles 90013.

A preview of the play is on November 15, 2013 followed by the opening night on November 16. It shows on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3 pm, and runs through December 8th.

For tickets, visit www.TheLATC.org or call 866-811-4111.