Cinco de Mayo Festival Events to Include Yost Theater Reopening

SANTA ANA — The 1993 Cinco de Mayo Festival in Santa Ana--to run from April 24 to May 2--will feature the fourth annual Santa Ana Mariachi Festival and the reopening of the 700-seat Yost Theater as a venue for live events, with inaugural performances by El Teatro Campesino, the Northern California-based troupe headed by Luis Valdez.

El Teatro Campesino will present two plays at the Yost (April 24-27): “Simply Maria” by Josefina Lopez and “How Else Am I Supposed to Know I’m Still Alive” by Evelina Fernandez. The program is subject to change, however. Two plays have been named as alternates, “Soldado Razo” and “El Baile de los Gigantes,” both by Valdez, who is best known as the writer of the stage work “Zoot Suit” and the director of the movie “La Bamba.”

The Yost Theater is at 307 Spurgeon St., Santa Ana.

The Mariachi Festival will take place at the Santa Ana Zoo (April 30-May 2) with various dance troupes and mariachis including Sol de Mexico, Continental, Internacional de America, Olimpico de Belvedere, Alanos de Garfield, Juvenil Sol de Mexico, UCI Ballet Folklorico, Grupo Renacimiento and Relampago de Cielo Ballet Juvenil.

The zoo is at 1801 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana.

The Yost will hold an open house April 28. A former vaudeville hall and movie theater, the Yost was built in 1913 and renovated during the 1980s. It has designated an historic landmark in 1990 by the Orange County Historical Society.

Other events in the Cinco de Mayo Festival include a Street Fair at the zoo (April 30-May 2); a lecture on “The History of the Mariachi” at the Bowers Museum Education Center, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana; and a Mariachi Mass at St. Joseph’s Church, 272 Minter Ave., Santa Ana.

All festival events are free except for the presentations by El Teatro Campesino. Admission to the plays costs $10; $5 for students and seniors. Festival information: (714) 558-6869.