Esperanza Rising: The Musical

Adapted from Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Novel

Book, Lyrics, & Story by Jimena Caballero & Emma Cordray

Music by Jimena Caballero

The Opportunity

As young musical theater writers, our dream has come true: out of 100+ applications, our musical Esperanza Rising has been selected for the ASCAP Musical Theatre Librettist Workshop in LA this May! A program that has been known to launch many Broadway writers’ careers, this opportunity gives us the chance to present 25 minutes of our show and a full storyboard to an audience of 500 and a panel of expert judges. But we need your help to get there!

Your donation will be instrumental to our ability to participate in this amazing experience. Every cent will go right towards payment for our incredible team: including our cast of actors, our director and producer, our music team, and more.

The Show

In colorful 1930s Mexico, 13-year-old Esperanza Ortega has it all: a perfect family, a home in a beautiful hacienda, and a bright future ahead of her. That is, until a tragedy forces Esperanza and her mother to flee their fairytale for a migrant labor camp in California. When Mama gets sick and a strike threatens their livelihoods, Esperanza must grow from a princesa to a patrona to save her family.

From Caballero & Cordray, Esperanza Rising is a musical adaptation of the beloved, award-winning novel. Told through a rich blend of Mexican musical genres—from Huapango to Norteña, Son Jarocho, Danzón, and more—Esperanza Rising is a celebration of Mexican culture that spotlights the hidden Mexican-American history of labor camps and farmworkers who get our food on the table. With over 14 million copies of the novel sold worldwide, this story is ready to take center stage… and sing!

And our next stop? With your help, Los Angeles!

The Team

As Caballero & Cordray, we tell women and girl-driven narratives about dreams and hope, sprinkled vigorously with quips and whimsy. We write for all ages and love to play with genre as a storytelling tool to fit each character’s wants and needs. You can always find us blending Latin music, pop, and musical theater songwriting together in an eclectic (and occasionally bilingual) blend.

Jimena Caballero is a bilingual songwriter, composer, singer, and pianist from Mexico City, listed as one of the “100 Women to Watch” in Mexico by Forbes, as well as Forbes “100 Most Creative Mexicans in the World.” She has shared the stage with artists such as Lang Lang, Herbie Hancock, Armando Manzanero, and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Jimena is currently working at Kraft-Engel Management. In 2023, She co-wrote a song and was associate producer on Richard Kraft’s musical A Beautiful Lie, directed by 3-time Emmy nominee Jamal Sims. She also assisted renowned producer Will Wells on different projects such as the music for the Heisman Trophy in 2021. Jimena was a recipient of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation Scholarship Award on two occasions, and during her time at Berklee College of Music she received various awards such as the Pat Pattison Award in Songwriting, the Jack Maher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting, and the Mili Bermejo Award for Voice.

Emma Cordray is a bilingual writer, teacher, director, and dramaturg whose career dedicated to new work development and education has taken her across the world. Emma has worked for NAMT, Pittsburgh CLO, Escuela JANA, and Signature Theater and has evaluated scripts for NAMT, the O’Neill, Austin Film Festival, and Kitchen Dog Theater. She is a former apprentice with One Year Lease Theater Company in Greece and a graduate of the National Theater Institute’s Advanced Directing Program. During her time studying at Carnegie Mellon University, Emma earned the School of Drama's Michael Gifford and WCDAC awards for her imaginative and interdisciplinary work. She was most recently a two-time Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, where her days teaching English and introducing Spanish teens to theater inspired her and Jimena to write stories for young people worldwide. In 2022-3, Emma co-led the Consejería of Education’s Model UN Program across 140 schools for 5000 students.

Thank you for your support! For more information, please email us. We’d love to hear from you!