The Migrant Farmworker's Son

Henry, the son of migrant farmworkers who live in a small town in Arizona, has been encouraged by his mother to assimilate—become American. His father feels isolated from his son by the boy's lack of Spanish (and his own lack of English), a frustration which occasionally finds physical expression. Throughout the play, blue Mexican peasants and fantastical images are used in Felini-like tones to express the migrant life and Henry's frustrations with his duel existence. Henry's friend, Oliverio, an old farmworker, recites poetry to him in the fields under the stars. Embedded in the poems are messages for Henry, to help him understand his father. After a confrontation between father and son, Henry learns of his father's secret pain. When the family unites, they discover that Oliverio was killed in a roll-over tractor accident 15 years ago. It was his spirit that helped the family reconcile. And now, his mission accomplished, the old man exits with the blue Mexican peasants in a scene reminiscent of a Diego Rivera mural.