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Basura begins with a question that feels both urgent and timeless: What happens when creativity becomes survival?

Inspired by the true story of a community living beside a landfill in Paraguay, this musical tells of young adults whose lives were shaped by scarcity—until one unlikely act of imagination changed everything. What began as a small moment of hope grew into something extraordinary—a youth orchestra built from instruments crafted out of discarded materials; a movement that would eventually resonate across the world.

When we first encountered this story, we recognized something familiar in its spirit. Despite taking place some 4,000 miles away, it felt like an Atlanta story. If there is one thing Atlanta understands deeply, it is the power of imagination to reshape destiny. Bringing it even closer to home, Basura arrives at the Alliance at a time when our theater itself is reshaping its vision for the future—a vision informed by the steadfast belief that arts can transform a young person’s development, and in turn, those young people can transform the world. As we open our new Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families—a space devoted to igniting imagination in the next generation—it feels profoundly fitting that we welcome a musical that celebrates the limitless potential of young people when they are given the tools to dream.

And then there is the music.

When this remarkable story caught the attention of global icon Gloria Estefan and her daughter Emily, they recognized its universal heartbeat. Together they created a score that pulses with rhythm, resilience, and joy! With a book by the brilliant Karen Zacarías, one of the most produced playwrights in the country, Basura brings together an extraordinary team of artists united by a shared belief in the transformative power of storytelling.

 When the anxieties and tragedies of the world can make us feel hopeless, stories like this invite us to lean into what is still possible. They remind us that imagination can outgrow circumstance, that art can reshape community, and that even the smallest spark of creativity can reverberate far beyond the moment it begins.

Thank you for being here, and for keeping that spark alive!

Performances of BASURA run on The Coca-Cola Stage May 30 through July 12, 2025 – learn more.

For most of us, we rarely give much thought to the things we throw away after we’ve tossed them. We rarely give a second thought to where it goes or ends up after it’s picked up by sanitation workers each week.

But for a community living in Asunción, Paraguay they haven’t had that luxury. With a landfill nearby, they were faced every day with what happens to the things we obliviously throw away. And as a result, they began to see value in the discarded. They, for all intents and purposes, understand the old saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Their story is at the core of the Alliance Theatre’s world premiere musical Basura.

According to book writer Karen Zacarías, Basura is inspired by the kids of Asunción and the 2015 documentary Landfill Harmonic. The documentary focuses on the kids of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, the orchestra made up of the children of Asunción who perform using instruments constructed from the scraps of the Cateura landfill.

“What I love about this show and story is that throughout my entire career I’ve worked on social justice issues and especially with young people. I feel like this production brings together my love of theater, my love for young people, and my love of how theater helps make a change in the world,” said Zacarías.

In 2022, she had the privilege of visiting Asunción and spending time with the new generation of artists in the orchestra. The purpose of the trip wasn’t to just learn more about their story for the book, but to get a sense of their aura. She’d already met a few of them via Zoom. She instantly fell in love with the kids, the community, and their story.

“What we didn’t want is for people to come to the theater and just say, ‘Oh, look how resilient those poor kids are. Good for them,’ ” she said. “We want people to understand – these children living in a landfill are dealing with our garbage. And to think about the metaphor: what we as individuals throw away and who we throw away. And how can we transform the garbage in our lives into something beautiful and positive.”

For Gloria Estefan, the story of Basura and the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura is a powerful one. She and her daughter Emily wrote the lyrics, music, and additional arrangements for the musical.

“It’s multi-layered because it’s not just the literal trash that we deal with throughout our lives all over the planet,” she said. “But also, the emotional baggage of garbage that we carry; the difficulties in life, no matter who you may be. The most incredible or to me, one of the most impactful things about the story in Basura, is that after they were able to travel and perform all over the world, to the Pope, for Queen Sofia of Spain with Metallica, the kids in the orchestra went back home and they transformed their communities.”

According to Zacarías, one of the biggest questions that keeps coming up is why the kids and their families didn’t just move away. First, she said there are economic implications.

“But, also, it’s like asking us, ‘Why don’t we move away from our planet?’ If we just can leave and move somewhere else, then we never deal with our garbage. At some point, we all have to learn how to make our homes better,” she said. “The idea of running away isn’t an option. And, in fact, the more privilege we have, the more we run away and the more removed we are. Someone comes and picks up our trash and takes it far away, and we don’t have to deal with it.”

Basura deals with all of that.

“The philosophy of the orchestra is that the world gives us garbage, and we give back music,” she adds. “It’s also an amazing testament of what the power of the arts does, to make you feel connected; to make you feel whole and how important the arts are for every human being. It’s important to have access to something that makes you feel alive; to something that gives you soul. I feel very lucky that this story landed on my lap.”

Not only that, but also the importance of playing your part.

“What’s interesting about an orchestra is you can have your personal relationship with your instrument, but when you’re playing shoulder-to-shoulder with other people, your part matters. If you don’t show up, the orchestra’s not as good. It’s not only about your personal development, but your personal responsibility. This idea that you’re stronger together,” she adds. “That you owe it to yourself, your friends, your colleagues, your co-artists to show up.”

We all have our part to play. It’s a message Zacarías believes resonates with Atlanta audiences.

“Youth, music, and the commitment to building dreams are very big parts of the DNA of Atlanta,” she believes. “BASURA will speak the language of Atlanta.”

Performances of BASURA run on The Coca-Cola Stage May 30 through July 12, 2025 – learn more.