Blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin — those were signs of beauty for Alexis Elisa Macedo growing up in Reedley, California.

“The only person I had to represent me was ‘Dora the Explorer,’” Alexis says. Her dark hair, brown eyes and tan skin give away her Latina origins. “Whenever I’d be playing with other girls, I’d say, ‘Oh, I want to be Barbie.’ They’d say, ‘You can’t be Barbie, you’re not blonde.’”

Getting involved in theater in school only made the disparities of her features and those of the characters more obvious.

“In writing, and in plays and movies, a sign of beauty is having fair skin,” she says. “I played a character where it was said ‘her skin is white as snow.’ I’m just like, ‘Well, that’s not me.’”

But media representation is changing, Alexis says. Disney’s television show “Elena of Avalor” and the movie “Coco” feature children of color as leading characters. Alexis says she proud to be a part of that change.

A theater arts student at Fresno State, Alexis plays the lead role in "The Super Cilantro Girl: Three Stories of Juan Felipe Herrera." The play revolves around the lives of a family of migrant workers: 12-year-old Esmeralda, played by Alexis, her younger brother Juanito, Papi and Mamá.

“When I got cast, I immediately called my dad and I said, ‘Dad, I'm a little brown girl playing a little brown girl!’” she says.

Alexis adds, “I really don't get chances to play a Latina that isn't a stereotype or isn't just the comedic relief. Esmeralda is not. She isn't a princess. She's a little girl navigating through changes and trying to encourage her brother to find his voice and to really use it.”

In the play, the family settles down in California’s Central Valley after years on the road, and Esmeralda and Juanito must attend new schools, learn a new language and find their places in the world. When Esmeralda’s mother is taken away by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Esmeralda transforms into a superhero — as green as cilantro — to rescue her.

The play is inspired by Juan Felipe Herrera’s children’s book, “Super Cilantro Girl,” and adapted by Arnold Anthony Schmidt. The goal of the story is to tap into children’s imagination to address and transform the concerns many first-generation children have about national borders and immigrant status. The award-winning author was the first Latino to be named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2015 and is a former Fresno State professor.

“The reason I chose this show this year is because of many of the real life issues that are going on right now in our country,” says J. Daniel Herring, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts. “This is a story that deals with it in a way that's very real but also very accessible for young people, and not frightening.”

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