Dan Guerrero brings his production "Gaytino!" to the Leo Rich Theater.

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When Dan Guerrero, son of Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero, first came up with the idea for a one-man show about growing up gay and Latino in America, he sat down and put together two lists.

"As I looked at the gay community and the Latino community, I saw so many similarities," Guerrero, 66, said in a phone interview last week from his West Hollywood home. "I thought, 'When did I first realize I was gay?' and then wrote that down. Then I thought, 'When did I first realize I was Mexican?' and wrote that down. 'When was the first time I was discriminated against as a Mexican and as a gay man?' and so on. I wrote down my experiences with both and started to mix and match."

Those lists eventually evolved into a 75-minute performance that Guerrero has since dubbed "Gaytino!"

The production makes its Tucson debut tonight at the Leo Rich Theater as part of Borderlands Theater's fall season.

Following Guerrero from his childhood years in East Los Angeles to his time as a performer living in New York City to his experiences as a producer and talent manager in Southern California, "Gaytino!" is chock- full of humorous anecdotes that give a "charming depiction" of Guerrero's life, according to the trade magazine Variety.

Guerrero is hesitant to give away any punch lines, but instances like the first time his father discovered young Guerrero was gay and his two times visiting the White House — first as a performer during the Nixon administration and then when President Bill Clinton awarded his dad the National Medal of Arts in 1996 — always get big laughs, he says.

"My life is very fertile ground, and it is all true," he notes. "It is very funny. It has got its messages, but I touch on them very quickly. You don't even know you've been hit. Then, more humor."

The play is primarily autobiographical, but Guerrero said it is not meant to be only about him. His father, who died last year, as well as his childhood friend Carlos Almaraz, an influential Chicano Movement artist during the 1970s who died of AIDS in 1989, both serve as "the thread" that ties everything together, said Guerrero.

"I didn't want people to forget either of them," he said. "With this show, I am celebrating two tremendous spirits in my life. I am just a conduit to that."

The show is a simple setup in design: Guerrero by himself, a stool, a mic, some recorded music and a screen where the actor runs through visuals and photos.

The play's official theatrical debut was in April. It was, however, road-tested informally in places like San Francisco; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Denver before its official premiere.

This will be the performance's first time through Tucson. Guerrero says he is excited to show it in his father's hometown and hopes audiences are as receptive as past audiences.

"I get e-mails all the time from people who have come to performances," he said. "I received one from a father of a gay son who said, 'Thank you for what you are doing and what you are talking about.' A young Asian man came up after one performance and said, 'You speak for all cultures.' It travels well. I never wrote it specifically for gay or Latino audiences. The idea was just to get these two stories out there."