'Latins on Ice' makes last-minute move from Pond Hockey site

A performance of the comedic show "Latins on Ice" moved from Lake Nokomis following concerns from the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships that it's not "family friendly," the show's creators said.

Instead, the show, part of the Great Northern festival, was staged at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on Powderhorn Lake.

Actor Sabrín Diehl said by phone that after two shows Saturday, the pond hockey tournament refused to host the Sunday performance at Lake Nokomis, citing "cursing and the aggressive nature of the show."

Diehl said that an official from the tournament confronted the performers Saturday, demanding that they take down a banner that said, "ABOLISH I.C.E.," a call to dismantle the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"I'm a theater artist … my job is to make people think," said Diehl. "I was taught in school that if your audience, by intermission, doesn't want to get up and revolt, you have failed.

"So I think I did my job as an artist."

The U.S. Pond Hockey Tournament did not return calls or an e-mail Sunday. It's one of the founding partners of the 11-day Great Northern festival, which celebrates the state's cold climate and diverse cultures.

"We're thrilled that more than 200 people came to see the show at Powderhorn Park."

In a video posted on Instagram early Sunday, the show's director, John Gebretatose, said that "right now there's a lot of shock." But the group urged supporters to join them on Powderhorn, "where there are more families that are Latinx."

"Latins on Ice" comprises five comedic, dramatic, pointed sketches performed by local actors, including Diehl, exploring "what it means to be Latin in Minnesota." Earlier this month, Diehl said they weren't sure how hockey fans would react.

"We are very loudly expressing our experiences, and a lot of that does have to do with not feeling fully welcomed by the culture here," Diehl said then. "It almost feels like we're naming the elephant in the room by our loud presence in this specific space of pond hockey, a very white event."

Karen Mary Davalos, professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota, saw the show on Saturday and was "really impressed with their bold, theatrical approach to what it's like to live in Minnesota as a person of color."

One of the show's most powerful moments had little to do with cursing, Davalos said. When a tanning session goes wrong, Diehl, desperate and cold on a frozen lake, pleads with passersby for help. "Wow," Diehl said during Sunday's show, "white people will watch you suffer and not do a damn thing about it."

The city and the country are "at a moment of racial reconciliation where, if we don't have those hard conversations, we really aren't going to change," Davalos said. "We need theater — we need this art form that gets us to talk."

Focusing on the curse words, which include the worst of them, misses the point, she continued. "That is not the hardest thing for our children to hear. I think it's going to be a bit more challenging to explain to your children, 'Why did they say white people don't care about people of color?'