I do not know exactly where The Mexican Play came from, although I can make a few guesses. Obviously, our country’s political climate is overripe with inspiration for a play of this nature, but the politics do not explain everything. It is more helpful for audiences to know what this play is not. I would like to emphasize that, despite the acidic tendencies of the farce herein, it is not a political play. It is, if anything, a social play. I am interested in presenting scattered bits of our social patchwork with as little overt “commentary” as possible. I am not making a political statement. That is not the point. I am simply showing a number of different viewpoints without placing them in a definite hierarchy. Doing that, I am still only approaching the very tip of the iceberg that is the “illegal immigration issue.” The complexity is far too unapproachable to “wrap up” with these characters and their words. A large part of a social play, in my mind, has to do with how words are used and to what (often absurd) end. This is not a modern play, either, and by that I mean that it is not solely about the current “illegal immigration issues.” If anything, this play is about xenophobia on a much larger scale. Xenophobia has motivated many huge actions and reactions throughout history. It is ancient, and it is not going away. I feel as though the best way to approach it is not with accusation, but with comedy. Some of my favorite works make audiences laugh, and through laughter stick certain ideas in the brain. With this play, I wanted to reach into family dinners, TV broadcasts and conversations on the street, pull out some of the demons and throw them into a big boiling pot. Our laughter can be the incantation that will make them vanish, if only for a few hours. Before I get too much into this, I think it would be best to just let the thing finish my thoughts. I hope that you enjoy it and, please, for your own sake, don’t take it so seriously. In this play, nothing is a sacred cow… not even a sacred cow.

David C. Ruzicka

France is a dog-hole.
William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II.iii

You must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.
Horatio, Lord Nelson, Life of Nelson (1813)

When they are not at war they do a little hunting, but spend most of their time in idleness, sleeping and eating. The strongest and most warlike do nothing. They vegetate.
Tacitus, Germania (AD 1st—2nd century)

The history of Germany is a history of… the licentiousness of the strong, and the oppression of the weak… of general imbecility, confusion, and misery.
Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (1787—8)

I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men—and German to my horse.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500—1558)

Can we never extract the tapeworm of Europe from the brain of our countrymen?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life, ‘Culture’ (1860)

Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd US President; 1932—1945)