In Twenty50, a play written by Tony Meneses and directed by Rebecca Rivas, Andres Salazar is running for Congress and the task is making him question his core beliefs.

The futuristic thriller opened at TheatreSquared this week — only the second time the play has been produced and the very first time it’s been done in an election year.

Salazar’s “sense of humanity runs up against his stated political platform,” according to T2’s website, which makes him wonder, “Is compromising his sense of identity worth the potential benefits? And what’s to be done with this mysterious stranger who’s suddenly stumbled onto his ranch?”

Actor Ricardo Pérez Dávila plays Sebastian in the production, who is an ambitious young campaign manager for Andres Salazar, helping him in his efforts to be elected to the House of Representatives. Pérez Dávila got connected with Rebecca Rivas through “Laughs in Spanish,” which she also directed, and where he had a fabulous time.

Sebastian “is someone who has abandoned his cultural heritage, Latinidad,” Pérez Dávila said. It’s “something that has only brought struggle and discrimination from external sources.”

In this hypothetical reality, Sebastian foregoes his language identity as Latino and assimilates whiteness, in hopes of garnering the same privilege. The character is playful and brutally honest. Pérez Dávila admires his tenacity and lack of filter and tact because he says what he thinks.

“He’s bold and committed to his perspective,” he said.

Director Rebecca Rivas is Artistic Director of the Latinx Theatre Project and works hand in hand with both theaters. This particular project felt like a good fit, she said, so she jumped in to take it.

Actor Gabby Pérez appeared on the TheatreSquared stage previously in the 2022 production “It Came from Outer Space,” which she described as a “wacky, zany musical show-in-a-box.”

For Twenty50, Pérez portrays Lydia, the local sheriff and long-time friend to the family Sebastian works for.

“Lydia is extremely principled, she believes in law and order and the power of community and guardianship and takes her role of providing safety and curating that community very seriously,” Pérez said. “She, like almost all characters in the show is first generation.”

Part of what becomes complicated, being in 2050, is where the center line of politics have skewed by that point in the future.

“For Lydia, representing the law and being a member of law enforcement, she’s in a tough position having to come to terms with her identity and her heritage,” Pérez said. “As well as things being asked of her politically and lawfully, (because of) where society is at that point.”

Rivas said the play is full of so many themes and issues that people struggle with in 2024, which makes it an attempt at projection for what it could be by the year 2050.

“It’s about so many things: identity, questioning ‘What is law?’ and ‘What is justice, right and wrong?’” Rivas said. “Big questions, like ‘Are we getting better or are we getting worse?’”

Each of these characters has a distinct understanding of what that is and teeters back and forth through those conundrums as they navigate the U.S., she said. Not all of the situations are confined to the Latinidad experience or struggle, though those are part of the show.

“It’s about family and community and your responsibility to those people,” Rivas said. It’s about “what you and your culture move toward (in terms of ) upward mobility and what do we sacrifice and … keep to gain that.”

Twenty50 does that in a suspenseful and funny way, she said.

Rivas is excited to direct the play’s second production and said Writer Tony Meneses had been calling in when he could. He came to Fayetteville for the designer run, and then the opening. Part of the process included making tweaks, because a lot has changed since he wrote it in 2020.

Any changes to the play since it was on stage at the Denver Center have to do with the characters and their journeys in a “lovely, sympathetic” way.

Pérez Dávila said the play might turn your attention to the societal choices made throughout a greater span of history.

“In the old culture of Latinidad, there was this forced assimilation dragging into a white, English-speaking culture,” he said. But in the process “there’s a stubbornness to letting go of the old culture and fully relaxing into assimilation. Now there’s a reiteration of the same cycle.”

They assimilated into European identity, into languages and left behind their Indigeneity. While the characters once held onto their Spanish language and identity, eventually they gave in. In the play, it’s happening once again.

That eerie historical reality complicates life for the characters, he said, and fascinates him.

Gabby Pérez said in preparation for the play, the small cast of seven has become a family, one that really clicks and enjoys each other.

“It’s rare for me to feel like I’m walking into a space where there’s already this deeply shared understanding; that we all have a touchstone for us all to relate to,” she said, even though each cast member has different upbringings and backgrounds. “That happens when you have a director and group of actors that have same cultural base.”

Having such a shared connection feels like “a bit of an exhale in the room” Pérez said, which gives them the time to explore and sink their teeth into this layered play.

Being portrayed in such a small, tight space allows both cast and audience to be totally present and focused. The lift of an eyebrow and other benign signs add to the suspense of what’s not being said at the time. While it’s certainly intellectual and historical, elements like this make the play exciting — you’ll want to know what’s going to happen.

As for the set in the Spring theater alley, Rivas said audiences can expect to see essentially a slice of a house. She envies those seeing it for the first time, because it’s that awe inspiring.

“It’s going be an experience,” Rivas said not long after having their first audiences. She watched as people sat down across from each other. In this theater, guests are seated in a way that they face other guests.

Like a roller coaster experience, where you have to strap in, people sitting across the way can watch them go on the ride.

“It’s fun for people to see it and deeply communal because you’re with the actors and can hear them, feel them in close proximity,” she said.

Pérez Dávila hopes that the characters come to life in a way that causes audience members to feel, at least for a while, uncomfortable and complicates or challenges their previous notions so that it’s “difficult to make a cut and dry judgment about anyone on the stage.”

While wrestling with their thoughts, they can still be entertained.

Gabby Pérez is hopeful that when guests leave, they experience some self reflection, to “take a step back and look at how they got to think the way they think” and then go vote.

Rivas hopes they are moved, not just emotionally — to laugh, cry — but moved to have conversations with themselves, each other and family about the country that we’re all shaping together.

“I hope it sparks conversation and moves you to the edge of your seat,” she said. “And changes the way they’re breathing a little bit. So that they have to come out of the theatre and turn to the person next to them and say ‘What was that about?’ ‘How do you feel?’ ‘What do you think about it?’

“It’s a ride.”