An abandoned cavernous warehouse on South Santa Fe Drive holds the seeds for the future home of El Centro Su Teatro, where the vision includes plays and musicals but also weddings and quinceñeras.
“We aren’t coming in and just painting the walls; we are creating a cultural arts center for the Latino community and the whole community,” said Anthony J. Garcia, founder of El Centro Su Teatro, Denver’s 34-year-old Chicano theater troupe.
Su Teatro is buying the former salvage yard at 215 S. Santa Fe Drive and will move from its current location at East 47th Avenue and High Street. The project to build the 41,000-square-foot facility has been in the works for five years and will be funded through city loans, grants and private money.
Garcia and city supporters unveiled Thursday the architectural renderings of the planned center in full color, complete with actors from the troupe on stage.
The new center, Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center, is set to open in February 2008 with a full courtyard, stage, seating, dance area, store, box office and catering kitchen. Garcia estimates it will take $3.5 million to acquire and renovate.
“It’s a considerable addition to Santa Fe Drive,” said Judy Montero, city councilwoman. “There is such an appreciation for Chicano art and culture, it’s their time.”
Neighborhood and Latino leaders expect the center to become a showpiece for the Latino community and the Santa Fe Arts District.
It’s also the first time Su Teatro will bring its Cultural Arts Institute, which serves 3,000 kids annually, and other festivals to the west side.
After all, this neighborhood is where it all began 34 years ago, Garcia said. He is from the area, and it’s where the troupe first took to the stage in 1971.
Neighborhood leaders say they are thrilled to have Su Teatro coming to their part of town.
The facility will serve as an anchor on the south end of the Santa Fe Arts District, said Veronica Barela, executive director of NEWSED, a nonprofit group in the Latino community focused on housing, home counseling and community events.
“It means so much that they are coming here. This is their home and the genesis of where these arts and culture things started,” she said. “It’s a much easier facility to find, and it’s more accessible.”
Already, Garcia has agreements with the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council, Stories on Stage and other community art groups to use the space.
“It represents two things: The city is looking at Latinos as part of the mainstream and not marginalizing,” Garcia said. “And it’s stepping into a place we always belonged and it’s a reflection of the community’s growth.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
