The Border Theatre of El Paso will present their latest original production, “The Fall of Wallace Winter,” written and directed by UTEP alum Austin Savage, at the Plaza Theatre and at the Glasbox, 210 Poplar St., throughout early November.

“This is actually our first musical, which is surprising to a lot of people,” Border Theatre co-founder Savage said. “It’s structurally and formally a very traditional play with how the stories are told and the meaning behind the stories. It started out as an American identity and it evolved from there.”

“The Fall of Wallace Winter” is a play that portrays the modern American family household and the chaos that goes on even within families that are thought to be firmly established. The comedic performance centers around family man Wallace Winter and the conflicts between him, his family and his vision of a perfect family. 

“My character is a very smart young man in high school,” said actor Frank Leal, who plays the role of Wallace Winter’s son Irwin. “He’s not the most popular kid in school, but everything he does is to appease his father, which is very difficult to do. The idea (of the play) is that everyone has a strange family. Every family is strange and that a lot of people can relate to that; I don’t think it’s uncommon in any household.”

Founded in 2010 by Savage, Carlos Rubalcava, Maria Torrez and Nathan Stal, The Border Theatre seeks to be an original border group that is “dedicated to creating and developing original, cutting-edge works that explore the human experience through the artistry of theatre,” as stated on the Border Theatre’s website.

“I had just returned from Chicago when the border violence had escalated. There’s so much identity in the border community filtered through the lens of the cartel,” Savage said. “I told Chuck Smith (acclaimed director of the Goodman Theatre) that I wanted to show our own stories and he agreed with me. I had a network with some very good writers and we decided to make our own (theater).”

The Border Theatre hosts workshops with readings of plays every Wednesday at the Glasbox, a performance venue, art gallery and theater. These workshops are open to the public and those who wish to be a part of the theater are encouraged to attend them. The theater plans for a possible week-long festival of artists to take place in January 2015 as well as another theater festival entitled “This is Water” in May.

The Border Theatre will continue their performance of “The Fall of Wallace Winter” at the Plaza Theatre’s Philanthropy Theatre on Nov. 7, 8 and 9 and at the Glasbox on Nov. 14, 15 and 16.

Tickets to the performance at either location may be purchased at www.bordertheatre.org.

For more information, contact The Border Theatre at (915) 412-5283 or by email at [email protected].

Joseph Esposito may be reached at [email protected].