/Photo courtesy The Phoenix Theater Co.
By James E. Garcia | Arizona Mirror
Tony Valdovinos is a “Dreamer” who sees the world as it is, not as he thinks it should be.
It’s a personal philosophy that’s served him well.
That was the biggest takeaway for me after attending a recent performance of ¡Americano!, a new musical based on his life story.
(Editor’s note: The author is serving as a creative consultant on ¡Americano!.)
It’s is an extraordinary tale, despite Valdovinos’ somewhat ordinary beginnings as one of millions of young undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, brought to the United States in recent decades.
Valdovinos was two when his parents brought him to Arizona. Like most immigrant families, the family came in search of a better life.
Beyond the daily uncertainty of living in the U.S. illegally, life for the Valdovinos family was better, and largely uneventful, until the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
That morning, as he dressed for school, he heard his mother scream from another room. Afraid she might be injured, he ran to her, arriving just in time to glimpse an image on television of a man as he leapt to his death from an upper story of the World Trade Center.
