My last show of 2024 is in the stomping grounds of my young adult life: San Antonio. A city I love con todo mi corazon. I’m pleased to close out my 2024 performances at Trinity University's Ruth Taylor Recital Hall on Wednesday, November 13th, at 6:30 pm. It is free to the public, and free parking is available at Alamo Stadium.
Did I say it was Free/Gratis? Yes, I did, but I want to bring that point home. The show is an hour long, followed by a half-hour Q&A session with the audience. This performance is part of Trinity’s Festival of the Arts. Thanks so much to Dr. Norma Elia Cantú, a preeminent Chicana Scholar and Author, the Norine R. and T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Trinity, who proposed my play for the Festival. If you live in San Antonio, please bring your friends/family. If you live elsewhere but know folks in San Antonio, would you be so kind as to forward this and encourage people to see the show?
Audience members tell me they laugh, and some report shedding a few tears. Often, they comment on how much they learned about the experiences of Latinos and other groups who have been marginalized and treated poorly in this country. It causes them to think long and hard about prejudice and bias and how important it is to show respect to others. The play is also about how our country has changed to expand opportunities and fulfill the ideals foundational to the founding of the United States. We can love our country while at the same time criticizing its shortcomings, past and present.
Although the show's name remains the same, several scenes in Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? change in response to current events. One small section of the play isn’t yet written and awaits the election results. Folks who have seen my play four and five times over the years report they leave with a new experience of each performance because of the new material. Even if you’ve seen the show before, have another look.
Sharing a few comments:
“As I sat in the audience, I couldn't help but feel that Irma had looked into my life -- a brown child traipsing through the finest universities and forging a professional life. In one hour, she conveys the joys and pains of living a bicultural/bilingual life, particularly in today's political climate. Gracias, Irma Herrera for telling our stories.”
~Ernestina
"At a time in which the very definition of a real American is hotly contested, Irma Herrera brings intelligence, humor, and grace to the race debate. Many people will see bits of their own experience in her struggle not just to belong, but to thrive in a society that is so often ambivalent about including her. A must-see for anyone who wonders what it will take for us to all get along.”
~ Rinku Sen, Former Editor, Colorlines
Creative, clever, and critical . . . addresses themes of identity, courage, and prejudice in ways that are relevant to America today.”
~ Sam Pasco, KXSF Radio
"A beautiful and powerful performance! Combining humor, personal experience, and childhood memories into a rich narrative about racial prejudice. Insightful and highly entertaining. You will not want it to end.”
~Bruce
Wednesday, November 13th @ 6:30 pm
Trinity University
Ruth Taylor Recital Hall
Free parking at Alamo Stadium
More information about the show is at Trinity University’s Event Page. Click here.
You can learn more about my show and how it was created in Professor Elena Foulis’ Latine Stories Podcast. La Doctora Foulis, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, invited me to her podcast when I last performed at St. Mary's University in San Antonio in late September 2023.
I will be so pleased to see you there. Allí nos vemos.
November 5th is election day. Exercise your right to vote. People have died to secure our voting rights. We cannot take our right to vote for granted; we could someday lose it. Gracias Rafael Gonzalez, artista y poeta, who created this graphic and permitted me to use it.
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