Everyone has a story: where they come from, how they got to where they are today, their trials and tribulations along the way.

Michelle Vest wants you to know more of those stories.

Vest is the writer of a play, Sole Survivors: Journey Across Borders, which tells the stories of four very different people: one American, two Mexicans and one Salvadoran. The play specifically deals with issues of immigration in America, and how far some will go to get a taste of the American Dream. The solo performance play — with Vest playing all four characters herself — will open tonight in Albuquerque.

It all started with an assignment for a solo performance workshop in which Vest was to interview someone she knew and then write a monologue from that conversation. She chose to interview a woman who cleaned her home.

"She didn't speak much English, and I don't speak much Spanish, but during that interview we learned a lot more about each other, and it wasn't long before we were laughing and crying together," Vest said. "Even though we're about five years different in age, and I grew up in D.C. and she grew up in a rural village in Mexico, we were telling the same stories of our families."

For Vest, this interview went deeper than just her assignment.

Over the course of a year, Vest talked with about 15 people from Mexico and El Salvador, and with these stories, she began to construct the characters for her play.

"My intent was to tell modern-day folk stories of people who, whether you agree with it or not politically or economically, come from other countries and help the economy along," she said.

One major influence for the creation of the play was Woody Guthrie's song "Deportee — Plane Wreck at Los Gatos," detailing the crash of a plane bringing illegal immigrants back to Mexico in 1948. Vest gave her characters the same names Guthrie gave the immigrants in his song: Juan, Rosalita, Jesús and María.

"These are people in our lives who are kind of nameless," Vest said. "I thought, here's an opportunity for these nameless people to tell their story, for us to imagine sitting down and talking with some people that we might not have the opportunity to talk to."

For Vest, learning to perform as four different characters helped her realize that everyone, no matter their race or nationality, is human. The moment she recognized that one person is not really that different from the next, that everyone experiences the same emotions in life, was a humbling one, she said.

Vest is also careful to leave politics out of the picture, so that everyone, regardless of their opinions, can relate to the stories.

After performances in New York City last month, the response was overall very positive, regardless of the audience's political ideals, she says.

"I've had people after the show come up to me from all different sides of the political spectrum and say, 'Politics aside, I just want to say thank you for telling these stories, stories I've never heard and I've never even considered before,' " she said, adding that even other immigrants — not just Latino, but also German and Iranian — have thanked her as well. "No one has ever been hostile or judgmental — just pleased to sit down and just listen to some people talk."

The play will also incorporate Mariachi Sonidos del Monte of Albuquerque. As Vest changes from one character to the next, the band plays a song that is reflective of the upcoming character as a prelude of what's next.

Vest's play opens tonight at the North Fourth Theater in Albuquerque and runs through Aug. 1.

"We seek and present work that's not on the mainstream, particularly works that engage social action and cultural discovery," said Susanna Kearny, marketing director for the North Fourth Arts Center. "Those are the kind of things that we like to not only host, but present. I think (Vest's play) will be wonderful."

Contact Jessica Trumbull at 986-3050 or jtrumbull@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Sole Survivors: Journey Across Borders, by Michelle Vest, is a story of immigration and America.
When: Tonight, Friday, July 24, 25 and 31; Aug. 1. Shows start at 8 p.m.
Where: North Fourth Theater, 4904 4th St. NW, Albuquerque
Tickets: $15; call 505-344-4542 for reservations.