‘Duranguito’ Documentary, El Paso Walmart Shooting

‘Acts of Kindness: The El Paso Play’ Commemorates Walmart Mass Shooting

The documentary “Duranguito,” about the fight to save one of El Paso’s oldest neighborhoods from a controversial plan to build an arena downtown, will be shown at a fundraiser for the conservation group.

The screening is Friday, July 26 at 6 p.m. at Sunset Parlor, 1307 N. Oregon St. The event features music by Los Liminals and will be followed by a discussion. Suggested donation is $25.

The screening is a fundraiser for Project Regeneración, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving historical and cultural heritage in Duranguito and South El Paso.

The 2023 documentary by Nikki Martinez and Zane Abraham focuses on two elderly Mexican-American residents and their supporters trying to stop the destruction of the neighborhood, according to the publicity materials.

The future of the Union Plaza area, known as “Duranguito,” and the proposed Downtown arena, now called a “multi-use center,” is currently in limbo. Voters in November will decide the future of the arena project, which was first approved in a bond election in 2012.

More community events:

AIDS Walk 2024

The El Paso Border AIDS Partnership will host its fifth annual AIDS Walk in Memorial Park on Saturday, July 27.

The family- and pet-friendly event includes a 5K run in the historic Manhattan Heights neighborhood around Memorial Park and an optional 1-mile walk. There will be a dog costume contest.

Registration begins at 7 a.m. The race starts at 8 a.m., followed by a carnival and wellness event from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Memorial Park, 1701 Copia St.

The Border AIDS Partnership, better known as BAP, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention in El Paso, Juárez and southern New Mexico. The fundraising walk is dedicated to remembering loved ones lost to AIDS and supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.

Participants can register on the day of the race or in advance at the park. The registration fee is $25.

Information: 915-533-4020

‘Acts of Kindness: The El Paso Play’ Reflects on the August 3 Walmart Tragedy

A play honoring the victims and survivors of the Walmart mass shooting that killed 23 people on August 3, 2019, will have its first performance in El Paso next week.

“Acts of Kindness: The El Paso Play” is being performed on the fifth anniversary of the racially motivated massacre of Latinos by an out-of-town gunman.

The play will be performed at 7:00 p.m. on August 2 and 1:00 p.m. on August 3-4 at the El Paso Museum of Art. Admission is free. First come, first served. The performance is 1 hour and 45 minutes without intermission. A licensed mental health counselor will be present at each performance.

The piece, written by Gregory Ramos, is a theatrical montage inspired by interviews conducted in El Paso on topics such as immigration, gun control and divisive politics. Ramos is an actor, playwright and theatre professor who was previously director of theatre at the University of Texas at El Paso.

More: Mexican Foreign Minister Visits El Paso, Walmart Shooting Memorial

The production “aims to honor, reflect and heal our Frontera community, while preventing us and the world from forgetting,” UTEP’s Department of Theater and Dance, which is presenting the work, said in publicity materials.

The play is being staged in partnership with the Mexican American Cultural Center, the UTEP College of Liberal Arts, and the El Paso Museum of Art. It is co-directed by Adriana Domínguez and Samantha Michelle Nava.

Information: 915-747-5146.