‘Pico de Gallo’ spices up the stage

A little bit of singing, dancing and a dash of culture form thekey ingredients to the play “Pico de Gallo: A Comedy withSpice.”

SMU Program Council Hispanic Events Committee celebratesHispanic Heritage Month by presenting “Pico de Gallo”Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Auditorium. Admission isfree for both students and the public.

The play details a diverse group of friends who can poke fun ofeach other’s cultures and still remain good friends. It isset in a restaurant that is owned by a drag queen that cooks andsells her famous Mexican salsa, pico de gallo.

“Pico de Gallo” has been running at the IcehouseCultural Center for six weeks and had sold out on most of theshows. This is the first time that a Hispanic production has beenbrought to the SMU campus.

Salazar said it is important to have a play that deals with theissue of diversity.

“This play shows how people can put their differences— race, culture, backgrounds — aside and cometogether,” Salazar said.

“It came at a perfect time,” he said.

Two SMU alumni played a big part in the making of the play. SMUalumnus Miranda Martinez, class of ‘99, and Marco Rodriguez,class of ‘00, met in 1999 during a production and have beenwriting plays together ever since.

They decided to name the play after salsa because the differentcondiments in the salsa represented their diverse group offriends.

“It gives everyone permission to laugh with and at eachother … without fear of controversy,” Rodriguezsaid.