“Rainbow, Rainbow!” rang voices throughout the Stevenson Event Center, as the audience joined in on Rainbow Theater’s pre-show tradition of a nightly chant, kicking off last weekend’s opening performance.
Rainbow Theater has provided a stage for multicultural stories at UC Santa Cruz for 32 years. The productions are entirely student-run, combining their various talents in writing, acting and directing.
“There wasn’t a space for students to tell their stories outside of theater arts doing these white shows,” said Nazeerah Rashad, a UCSC student and co-director of “School Girls.” “It was the need from students to do shows of color that were different from the shows that were being put on at [UC Santa Cruz Theater Arts]. That is what really brought Rainbow Theater to be.”
This year, Rainbow Theater presented two programs: Program A, “School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play” and “Peeling the Banana,” and Program B featuring “Latins Anonymous” and “Poet’s Corner.”
“School Girls”
Program A begins with the story of Ghanaian school girls in the 1980s competing for the chance to enter the Miss Ghana pageant. Paulina, queen bee of the school, seems like the obvious choice. But when Erika, a transfer student from America, sparks the interest of the pageant recruiter for her lighter skin tone, tensions rise between them.
Nana (Nadia Martin), Mercy (Andi Brooks), Ama (Kal Glenn), and Paulina (Abigail Opeyemi) gossip in the cafeteria.
“It’s really inspiring that we can get a story portraying how colorism affects women, especially Black women and young girls,” Rashad said. “As a Black woman, that’s something that you grow up dealing with your entire life. You realize that your experiences are different from other people’s based solely on your skin tone.”
As the struggle between Paulina and Erika intensifies, the stakes rise beyond those of a beauty pageant. “School Girls” tackles the complexities of colorism and the infighting it can cause.
The girls show off their outfits and sing as pageant recruiter (Nazjae Bemore) listens in horror.
“It’s a reflection on the Black community as a whole,” said costume designer Luna Shaw. “How we all have the same setbacks as each other, but we still attack each other, even though we should be working together. It’s about how we’re always stronger together no matter what.”
“Peeling the Banana”
The cast of “Peeling the Banana” share a couch as Kyle Lieu’s character describes his relationship with his grandmother (Galmandakh Unurbaatar).
The second show of the night was a series of short scenes detailing Asian American experiences. Through personal stories about finding love, family and the struggle to belong, “Peeling the Banana” captures the complex reality of Asian identity in America.
In one scene, characters Asian Mulder and Asian Scully investigate who killed a dead Asian man. After some back-and-forth banter about the Asian dating scene, they conclude that it was a broken heart that killed the man and come to terms with their romantic feelings for each other.
Asian Mulder (Leila Karimi) and Asian Scully (Meadow McDonell) cradle a dead Asian man (Kyle Lieu).
In another, Geeta Reddy, an Indian-Filipina girl, reflects on the issues she faces due to her mixed-Asian identity. She refers to herself as an “undercover agent,” confusing other Filipinos when she participates in their spaces, due to them being unaware of her identity.
“Latins Anonymous”
Kicking off Program B, the next night of the performances premiered “Latins Anonymous,” a satirical depiction of Latine stereotypes. Set in a support group for Latines, each character represents a common trope in the media. The show asks audiences to see Latines not for their typical type-casts, but for the nuanced personalities that lie underneath.
Kasandra Maita and Sonia DeLarios Moran’s characters mourn Brendan Haegele and Jax McMenamin’s characters after they kill each other while competing for acting roles.
“This show was created to contradict,” said co-director Katherine (Kat) Rant. “There’s a lot of stereotypes when it comes to Latino and Latina actors. Specifically, what roles they should or should not play. The play shows that there’s way more to Latino[s].”
Throughout the play, cast members confidently stepped off stage and into the crowd, picking audience members at random to incorporate into their performance. At one point, they picked out a blond man to enter the meeting, asking him to talk about his “Anglo struggles,” but comedically cutting him off each time. These moments immersed the audience as another member of the anonymous meeting. 
The Mayan Defense League prepares to save Diane (Sonia DeLarios Moran) after she collapsed from her “whiteness” as she attempted to dye her hair blonde.
“I just hope that audiences can see its comedy, while also seeing the struggles of some Latin-identifying people,” Rant said. “It is real for so many people, and not a lot of people recognize that. While the play is funny, it also really shows those intense moments of identity growth and trying to figure out who you are as a person.”
“Poet’s Corner”
Finishing off the night was “Poet’s Corner.” Despite using the same name, each season students create a brand-new script themselves.
Angelikah Kalika’s character stands bewildered, as her teacher (Meg Tirunagaru) banishes her from society for expressing emotion.
This year’s performance is a spectacle of dance, lights and smoke. The story is set in a dystopian world, where music and emotions are banned. The story follows two protagonists as they venture through the forest, rediscovering their emotions and restoring music back to their world. 
Pramithi Kalluri’s character monologues on the beauty of the world outside the dystopian society.
“We need music. It helps us connect as people,” said writer and co-director Aniya Hamblin. “As [the audience] goes on the journey with the actors, they get to feel that emotion. I find music brings community. At the end, when they release their emotions, it brings a sense of community and happiness back to them.”
Performers, some dressed as nymphs, dance onstage.
The script is interwoven with dance performances, each dance marking the discovery of a new emotion in the protagonists’ journey. Vibrant lights shined above the dancers as they moved in unison to the music, with smoke rolling in beneath their feet.
Curtain Call
On opening night, as the cast took their final bows, all members were handed a bouquet on stage, another theater tradition. Throughout the show, Rainbow Theater members cheered each other on, clapped for the crew during blackout transitions and helped distribute flowers to those on stage.
“Rainbow Theater is a place for people from all backgrounds, all cultures, all personalities, to come and do something amazing,” Kat Rant said. “It truly shows a sense of community. We’re all there to do something that we feel is important. It’s an amazing feeling to watch other people grow while others are uplifting you as well.”
