Where Did We Sit on the Bus?

Or: Let It Out, Let Them In

The return of actor/writer/musician/storyteller Brian Quijada to the Boise Contemporary Theater Stage is a cause for celebration. Heartfelt and clever, popping with internal rhyme, and cunning movement Quijada lays down the tracks of his journey as an artist and a latino (from his exceptionally well choreographed conception and birth) with ukulele, harmonica, and the hot sparks of his boxing beats. The warm milk of his voice pours forth as, step by step, he crafts for us the story he will tell his children yet-to-come about their place in this country.

Quijada moves us from the finding his personal idol (Michael Jackson), to confronting his father over his dreams of being an artist, to grander thoughts about this nation of immigrants. Bounding, flowing, moonwalking over the floor projection space (designed by director Chay Yew) the performance is crafted before our eyes. There are times when the energy of the story is disrupted by the fiddling with the sound recording equipment used to create the audial language of a play, but that is the price payed for authenticity. Fresh each night yet impeccably timed to the spoken word, the music, and the method of its creation is the invisible Ariel, dancing upon its Prospero. Both funny and moving, the word of a genuine storyteller, Where Did We Sit on the Bus? Is marvelous evening, something to be treasured, in something joyfully given and given with grace.