Taxilandia
In this site-specific play-within-a-tour of a city, created by Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, audience members become passengers on a dramatic reunion with Flako’s neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Taxilandia is a front-row, backseat ride on a quest to save the vital tapestry of community in America.
Taxilandia is inspired by Flako’s nine years driving a taxicab in Bushwick and is drawn from his documentations of conversations with passengers, residents, natives, and immigrants. Being a cab driver was a front-row seat to the gentrification happening in the neighborhood. He saw and heard from all sides — from the transient “gentrifier” to the displaced locals. He watched and listened to how locals adapted to the changing landscape, taking on that complicated dance with humanity and personal growth. Seeing college-educated friends walk the neighborhood with more ownership than the ones who killed to survive, Flako understood and witnessed a story that was daily evolving, but not being told.