(“Revitalized,” through June 25, at Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea. Teatro Chelsea and La Colaborativa will hold a rally in front of the theater shortly before Friday’s performance to raise awareness of the housing issues and advocate for change.

It’s important we make sure people understand what their options are, and not let language or immigration status be a barrier.” “They are working to help residents with housing rights, displacement prevention, and tenants’ rights advocacy. “We chose this play in collaboration with Chelsea’s local social services organization, La Colaborativa,” Rivera says. Although in this case La Catrina is coming for their home, not their souls, Rivera says it’s not an overstatement to describe the theme as a life-and-death situation. The playwright weaves in a real estate developer named Doña Kati, a stand-in for the Mexican folklore figure La Catrina, the skeleton woman who represents death. The women experience a growing sense of unease as job losses and then evictions move closer, and they worry about what choices they will have when they are pushed out of their community. The plot focuses on an immigrant mother and her daughter, who is a US citizen. “There are elements that are a little too familiar,” he says of the drama, which will be told in both Spanish and English, with the characters switching languages depending on where they are in the play (often English is spoken at work, Spanish at home). Playwright Joel Ulloa sets his play on the West Coast, but Rivera says the story has echoes of South Boston, Jeffries Point in East Boston, and now Chelsea.

Imaginary by Jamie Sullivan