Mexican Day

  “Water is a vivid metaphor in Los Angeles. We live in a desert beside an ocean, an existence of simultaneous want and plenitude.

   Another, lesser-known water source inspires The Ballad of Bimini Baths, a trio of plays by local playwright Tom Jacobson. Bimini was a popular swimming and spa complex at the site of hot springs one block east of Vermont Avenue between 1st and 2nd streets, operated from 1903 to 1951.

   Jacobson makes this the nexus of a wide-ranging tale that pulls together events in L A history, some of which occurred at the baths, others not. His theme is sins in need of being washed away—racism as well as other moral failings.

   The intriguing result is being staged by three small theaters, all running different plays ranging from 55 minutes to 1½ hours.

   The final play is an inspiring tale of people working together to try to redeem the past and re-chart the future…

   Bimini, like many places in the early 20th century, was racially exclusive. People of color were admitted just one day a month, the day before the pools were drained and cleaned.”

Daryl H Miller, Los Angeles Times

   “Only a playwright as daring and talented as Tom Jacobson could imagine and achieve a project as mind-blowing as his fascinating, informative Ballad Of Bimini Baths trilogy. MEXICAN DAY is the most accessibly crowd-pleasing of the bunch.”                 StageSceneLA

   “Highly effective. This is a thought-provoking and powerful play…humor alternates with seriousness.”                                                  LA Splash

    “Tom Jacobson’s insightful script intimately, intricately interweaves ethnicity, class, sexuality and more in his story depicting a landmark Civil Rights struggle in late 1940s Los Angeles.”                                                                                                                          Hollywood Progressive