Requiem for Rosa Elena’s Dream, a new drama by El Paso playwright Felix Arenas, explores what happens to one family’s dreams and wishes when life—and three generations—take their toll. It will be performed at 2:30 pm Sunday, April 13 as part of the El Paso Community Foundation Jewel Box Series at the Philanthropy Theatre.

General admission tickets are $15, on sale at the Plaza Theatre Box Office (no service fees) and Ticketmaster (with service fees). The box office is open 10 am-3 pm weekdays and day of show.

Requiem for Rosa Elena’s Dream spans three generations of a family’s evolution, from the 1960s to the 1990s, in El Paso. “I am a storyteller at heart, and I love telling the El Paso story,” says writer-director Arenas. “I grew up in the Segundo Barrio and I’ve never forgotten how lucky I am for that. My writing is imbued with shades of our bicultural borderland life.”

Arenas is no stranger to the Jewel Box Series, dating back to 2017 when he performed in Eden Enterprises’ Telling El Paso: Our Veterans, Their Stories. Since then, the Jewel Box presented his plays We Have Each Other in 2020 and El Paso Stories in 2022. He also wrote 2021’s El Chuco Christmas.

Now in its ninth season, the Jewel Box Series was created in partnership with El Paso Live in 2014 to host local performing artists and groups in that jewel box of a venue, the Philanthropy Theatre in the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre. The monthly series runs each fall through spring.

The 2024-2025 Jewel Box Series season concludes with The Mad Flower at 2:30 pm May 11. It is an original play with dance and music by El Paso’s Talia Leilani Davila and Noelle Mullenix of Mad Flower Productions.

The venue allows only clear bags or small clutches. Go to elpasolive.com.