Associate Professor of Theatre Education Beth Murray has collaborated with local playwright and Certified Applied Poetry Therapy Facilitator Irania Macias Reymann to create a bilingual play in Spanish and English. Tatas Tales/Los Cuentos de las Tatas is based on the writings, drawings, ideas, and conversations of Charlotte and Concord area breast cancer survivors, gathered from informal poetry, transformative writing, and theatre workshops that Macias Reymann has conducted since 2019.
Readings of the script in both English and Spanish will take place in person and virtually May 4-12 in various locations. Because Tatas Tales/Los Cuentos de las Tatas is a new work still in development, the playwrights will invite feedback from the audience, which will be used to revise the script as the team works toward a fully mounted production.
“Irania and I are named as playwrights, but Tatas Tales/Los Cuentos de las Tatas reflects a plurality of authors as the story is continually written and re-written in rehearsal and performance choices by the ensemble, even as the words stay constant,” Murray (pictured above, far right) said in a statement. The script calls for five actors; a cast of 11 performers will rotate through the performances.
Tatas Tales/Los Cuentos de las Tatas is Murray’s second collaboration with Macias Reymann. In 2013, they wrote and toured a bilingual show with music for children called Mamá Goose, inspired by the Latino nursery rhyme anthology of the same title by Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada. Created for three to seven-year-olds, Mamá Goose was performed by UNC Charlotte students at schools, libraries, and community locations across the Charlotte metro area in April 2013, particularly targeting locations serving culturally diverse, economically challenged monolingual and multi-lingual populations.
Readings of Tatas Tales/Los Cuentos de las Tatas are supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Three of the five readings are also sponsored by Culture Blocks—a community partnership funded by Mecklenburg County through the Arts & Science Council.
Dates, Formats, Locations
All events are free.
Wed, May 4 In-person at Charlotte Lit, 1817 Central Ave, CLT 28205, 5:30pm-in English; 7:00 pm. In Spanish
Mon, May 9 In-person at Mallard Creek Recreation Center, 2530 Johnston-Oehler Road, CLT 28269, 3:00 pm. In English (registration: tinyurl.com/Tatas-MCR)
Tuesday, May 10 Virtual Only through Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, 6:00 pm. In English (registration: tinyurl.com/Tatas-UC)
Wed, May 11 Virtual Only through VIDA Wellness or El Puente Hispano. In Spanish (registration: vidawellness.com/events or 980-389-0615)
Thu, May 12 Hybrid event--In-person at Charlotte Lit 1817 Central Ave, CLT 28205, 6:00 pm (charlottelit.org) AND Virtual through Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, 6:00 pm. In Spanish (tinyurl.com/Tatas-HG)