Cast members of "Real Women Have Curves" shown with Roberta Martínez, author of "Latinos in Pasadena."

Toiling for low wages with few breaks in dilapidated factories, garment workers are among L.A.’s most vulnerable group of laborers. Consumers largely remain unaware of their struggles, but playwright Josefina López’s “Real Women Have Curves” humanizes the individuals who make their living in the apparel industry.

López revealed Tuesday night how her life intersects with the themes of “Real Women” after a staging of the play at the Pasadena Playhouse, where it opened Sunday.

Since she penned the work in 1988, more than 50 productions of it have been performed, and a film adaptation starring America Ferrara debuted in 2002.

“Real Women” chronicles five Latina garment workers facing a range of challenges, including abusive relationships, infertility, poor body image and lack of access to higher education. They bond while scrambling in a small but sweltering East L.A. factory to meet a rigid production deadline or go out of business. They also each harbor a longstanding fear of La Migra, or the immigration police.

It’s a fear López has felt personally, said the writer at Pasadena Playhouse’s “Talkback Tuesdays” event in which audience members pose questions about plays to those involved in its production, including playwrights and cast members. Director Seema Seema Sueko facilitated the panel.

“I was undocumented for 13 years,” López said. “I think about how when you’re undocumented how scared you are.”

While just one character in the play, factory owner Estela (Cristina Frias), is undocumented, her coworkers also run and hide when they think “La Migra” may be near. López said that’s because the stigma of being undocumented doesn’t go away once one acquires the “little card that tells us we’re a human being.”

Blanca Araceli, who plays Estela’s mother, Carmen, in “Real Women,” agreed. She said that residents of predominantly Latino neighborhoods don’t want to drive or even step outdoors at night because of fear of La Migra.

Such fear, said Frias, “lives in the body.”

Because Latinos continue to face xenophobia, she said, López noted that she hasn’t had to update her play much since she wrote it as a teenager. She did, however, have to switch the character of Rosali’s (Diana DeLaCruz) goal dress size from a 7 to a 0 because women today face pressure to be thinner than ever.

“They’re basically telling women to disappear,” she said.

In addition to the playwright, the cast and the director, the “Talkback” panel included Cynthia Olivo, associate vice president of Pasadena City College’s student services office, and Roberta Martínez, author of Latinos in Pasadena.

Olivo called the play “a testament to our culture, hard work and perseverance.” Martínez pointed out that while it takes place in East L.A., Pasadenans can relate to the subject matter because “Latinos have been here forever,” particularly in neighborhoods such as Sonora Town and Chihuahuita.

“It’s resonating with folks who have been in Pasadena for generations,” Martínez said.

López grew up in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles and still remembers working as a teen in a garment factory with her mother and sister, as the “Real Women” character Ana (Santana Dempsey) does. López has played this character before, a role that required her to strip down to her underwear, inspiring the other women in the play to do the same in a humorous moment about body acceptance as well as self-love.

Having the characters undress shows that one can be both vulnerable and strong, López remarked.

“This is self-help theater,” she said. “You can’t fake it.”