So important was a woman named Lolita when Salomon Maya was growing up that she became the inspiration for “Masa,” the second play he has written (after last year’s “Mugre”) for Chula Vista-based OnStage Playhouse.

“My father saw this woman (in Mexico City) selling tamales and knew that she could help our family,” Maya explained. “She moved here (to the U.S.), leaving her family behind. She was always cooking. She was always cleaning. She was taking care of us. We became her family.”

Lolita’s backstory — losing her husband in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake that killed 10,000 people and also suffering from claustrophobia — is told in this world premiere production opening Saturday. The play stars Veronica Burgess as Lolita and co-stars Denise Lopez, Julian Ortega and Maya himself.

“Here’s the story,” Maya said, “of a lady who has lost her husband, whose son needs a mother just as much as he needs a father, and all he wants is for her is to leave the house — and because of her claustrophobia she can’t.”

In a twist right out of magical realism, there’s also a radio in the play that speaks to Lolita, Maya said, in the guise of old Beatles songs: “Lolita believes these are coming from her husband.”

OnStage Executive Artistic Director James P. Darvas, who directed Maya’s “Mugre” last year, is also directing “Masa.” The two have been collaborators since 2016. Maya recalled writing four scenes of what would become “Masa” and sending them to Darvas to read.

“He normally texts me back,” Maya said, “but he called me instead. That meant he either hated it or he loved. It was definitely the latter.”

Even so, “James and I had 17 revisions to this play,” Maya said. “We met for over a year at various coffee shops. There was one on Adams Avenue where it was like he and I were Norm and Cliff from ‘Cheers.’ We’d sit down and just go through these revisions.”

The final version of the script draws much of its dramatic tension from Lolita’s trauma caused by the ’85 Mexico City quake and her personal loss.

“It was Mexico’s ‘JFK moment,’” Maya said. “Everyone knew where they were and what they were doing on the 19th of September when that earthquake struck.”

Maya himself was 5 years old at the time and living in San Diego, but he had cousins and grandparents living in Mexico City. “Growing up it was something that was always talked about.”

Maya is pleased that Tijuana-born Burgess is playing Lolita in this production. He envisioned her in the part before there were any rehearsals. “I saw her and I said ‘Vero, this is you.’ I knew she could encompass the ebbs and flows of this character. I’m amazed at the work she’s doing.”

Masa is a dough made from corn flour used widely in Mexican cuisine, such as for tamales and tortillas. The title of the play is very much intentional.

“Masa is the foundation of many things,” said Maya. “It’s also symbolic of what makes us a family and a culture. We are all masa — dough ready to be formed. A new work is like masa too. You have to form it.”

‘Masa’

When: Preview, 7:30 tonight. Opens Saturday and runs through Oct. 27. 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays

Where: OnStage Playhouse, 291 Third Ave., Chula Vista

Tickets: $25 and up

Phone: (619) 422-7787

Online: onstageplayhouse.org