The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company featured an impressive theatrical and visual art experience from Jan. 25 to Feb. 16 written and performed by father-turned-activist Manuel Oliver, following the loss of his son in the Parkland shooting.
“Guac,” after Joaquin ‘Guac’ Oliver, is both a celebration of his life and a rallying call to put an end to the gun violence that cut it short.
However, the performance wasn’t the only notable aspect of the event. The theater’s entrance was also home to a visual art exhibit complementing Oliver’s show: Demand.
From a 3D sculpture, to the ‘This Should Be My Son’ soccer jersey, to a father-son motorcycle project, the exhibit portrayed the tangible anger and grief from Manuel’s artistic perspective.
“[Demand] is an immortalization of Manuel’s son, Joaquin,” said Terrence Griffin, lead sales associate at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. “[It is] almost like an immortalization while also a call to action.”
On Valentine’s Day in 2018, Joaquin “Guac” Oliver and 16 others were killed in a high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. One year later, Manuel, his father, wrote the first version of the play, titled “Guac: My Son My Hero.”
Manuel is an artist-turned-activist who, along with Joaquin’s mother, Patricia Oliver, has since brought the show across the United States to bring awareness and advocacy through their unique perspective as parents of a child killed by gun violence.
From New York City to San Diego, Chicago to Tysons, Virginia, and finally to D.C. at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Guac has featured a “story of an immigrant family in search of the American Dream only instead to be confronted by a uniquely American Nightmare.”
One of the most striking displays was a 3D print of Joaquin. The description for the model explained that it was created as “an ironic response to the alarming reality that, in the U.S., anyone with access to a 3D printer can create a gun without any tracking or serial numbers.”
The life-size model, created by the youth-led activist group Change the Ref, combines art and technology to advocate against gun violence, but also places Joaquin as one of the emblems for their cause, taking the “3D Activist” with them to screenings of a film by the same name, demonstrations, protests and even the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Woolly Mammoth Theatre also featured several tweets directly from Joaquin that demonstrate his feelings of social justice and a glimpse into his life.
“When you walk around the exhibit, you see family pictures, family videos, and just getting a sense of … what his life was like, so that you already walk into [the show] feeling connected to him,” Griffin said.
There were also pieces that show the issue of gun violence in America more directly, including “thoughts and prayers” toilet paper, calling to the inaction of politicians and policy makers in regards to the issue. There was a simulation of what being a child during a school shooting may actually feel like, where the viewer wears headphones playing real audio from a school shooting and hides under a desk.
Both the exhibit and performance are powerful in bringing attention to gun violence through a story of manifesting Manuel and Patricia’s love for and memory of their son.
Although the next dates for “Guac” are currently to be determined, Wooly Mammoth Theatre is set to feature “It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure,” a satire on monetization of identity by the theater company FlawBored.
This article was edited by Jessica Ackerman, Marina Zaczkiewicz and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Emma Brown and Ella Rousseau.
