Gloria Molina’s civic-driven spirit guides a budding Latina politician in a new play penned by “Real Women Have Curves” writer Josefina López. López is artistic director at Casa 0101, which is presenting “A Woman Named Gloria,” starring Karla Ojeda and directed by Corky Dominguez. It highlights Molina’s trailblazing political journey, which exceeded people’s expectations of a women in power.
The 74-year-old Molina died of cancer last year, but her influence in politics as the first Latina county supervisor, city council member and Assembly member in Los Angeles remains salient. Honoring Molina has been a personal endeavor for López, who was a student at East Los Angeles College when she first learned about the woman she would eventually befriend and collaborate with on arts projects. As a promising writer, López became enthralled by Molina’s 1990 L.
A. County supervisor campaign against Art Torres when he reportedly called her a “burrito.” “A male politician could get away with that and no one [would hold] him accountable,” López said.
By that time, the Montebello-born Molina had run a successful campaign against Richard Polanco for California State Assembly in 1982 and was elected to a city council seat in a 1986 landslide victory . “When she won, I was like, I want to tell her story,” López said, adding that it also needed to take a deeper look at the challenges of life in politics. Molina’s biggest critics were outsiders, according .