Like so many others from poor villages in Mexico and Central America, it was Manuel Jesús Córdova Soberanes’ dream to come to the United States to work and help his family back home in Magdalena, Mexico. But it was never going to happen. Crossing the border into Arizona one night, Soberanes stumbled across a young boy who had been in a car accident that had killed his mother. Rather than leaving him to continue his journey through the desert north to Tucson, Soberanes decided to stay and spend the night with the boy and comfort him. When the authorities found them in the morning, Soberanes told them what had happened. When the story broke in the local media, people were moved by his selfless act and many tried to help him stay in this country. They appealed on his behalf, but to no avail. Soberanes was deported back to Mexico.

Patty Willis

When Patty Willis and Mary Lou Prince, who were living in Tucson at the time, heard the story they were touched. “It’s such a beautiful story, I felt I needed to tell it,” Willis said. It was important to her because it “shows humanity. Manuel was a hero that night. Nobody would have known if he hadn’t stopped, and he knew he would go back to Mexico when the authorities came. That was his third attempt to cross the border. He gave up everything to help this boy.”

It took her awhile, but Willis, who was still in seminary at the time, finally began writing a play based on what had happened. “I let it ruminate for 18 months, but one day I started to work on it, and as I was writing it I realized it would be a one person play.”

Willis likes the one-person format, because,“it gives you a chance to walk in the shoes of other people.”

Mary Lou Prince

After Willis had completed the play, Prince, who is a composer, started working on the music. “I had actually already written some pieces that hadn’t been intended for the play,” Prince said. “One of them happened to have a Latin beat and Patty wrote words for it.” Once she threw herself into composing for the play, the music just flowed. “It came together really quickly,” Prince said.

The two now live in Salt Lake City, where Willis is the minister at the South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society and Prince is the church’s music director. Next week, Man from Magdalena will receive its Utah premiere in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. “This will be the 22nd performance,” Prince said. “It’s been done a lot in Arizona, and it’s also been performed in Indiana and California.”

Willis will be acting and Prince will accompany at the piano. They’ll be joined by cellist Megan Titensor and a vocal quartet made up of Willis, Brenda Voisar, Nan McEntire and Gloria Gardner Murdock.

To learn more about the play log on to www.manfrommagdalena.com.

Willis and Prince will donate all net proceeds from the performance to micro loans in Mexico and Central America through www.kiva.org. “We like the organization because you can choose which country you are interested in and you can see the profiles of people who want to start their own business,” Prince said. “And it’s up to you to decide how much you want to help.”

The loans have to be repaid, Prince said, and most of the recipients are quick to pay the money back. “We’ve funded over 600 businesses, and we’ve only had one or two people who defaulted,” she said.

Instead of keeping the money, Prince and Willis reinvest it when their loans are repaid. “So far, performances of Man from Magdalena have underwritten over $94,000 in loans,” Prince said.

In addition to the loans, the couple has also donated $2,000 to Soberanes, who now lives and works in Mexicali.

• PERFORMANCE DETAILS
• What: Man from Magdalena
• Venue: Leona Wagner Black Box, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center
• Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. March 24-25
• Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door
• Phone: 801-355-2787 or 888-451-2787
• Web: www.arttix.org