Richard Jewkes

Gabacho: Drugs Landed Me In Mexican Prison, Theater Saved Me Richard Jewkes

Gabacho is the true tale of youthful angst, crime, misunderstandings, love, friendship and redemption.


Over Christmas break of his senior year, a University of Utah theatre student disenchanted with his conservative Mormon upbringing, took off for Mexico with a college friend seeking a wild adventure. If the adventure hadn't included smuggling drugs it might have been another college road trip. But after a disastrous encounter with a drug cartel, they ended up being arrested by Mexican Federales while trying to make it to the US border.


Jewkes and friend are tossed into a Mexican prison, where they find themselves anticipating torture, rape and even death. A fight with a notorious killer, struggles with tormenting guards and the difficulties of foreign prison lead to a disastrous escape attempt. To survive, Jewkes starts a theatre group with a rag-tag bunch of Mexican convicts.