Evento

Embark presents LA GRINGA by Carmen Rivera

Embark presents 1996 Obie winning play, LA GRINGA by Carmen Rivera, in celebration of Latino Heritage!

Directed by Sol Miranda, this wonderful comedy and heartfelt story will be presented in English for all in the community to enjoy.

Featuring: Arianna Hurtado, Luis Alonso Guzmán, Sol Miranda, Alyssa Acevedo, Stephen Velichko and Andrew Torres
Stage Manager: Guadalupe Verge

FOUR performances only!
November, Saturdays 5 & 12 at 8pm
November, Sundays 6 & 13 at 3pm
$20 / $15 Students w ID
Refresments served.

SUMMARY
LA GRINGA is about a young woman's search for her identity. Maria Elena Garcia goes to visit her family in Puerto Rico during the Christmas holidays and arrives with plans to connect with her homeland. Although this is her first trip to Puerto Rico, she has had an intense love for the island and even majored in Puerto Rican Studies in college. Once Maria is in Puerto Rico, she realizes that Puerto Rico does not welcome her with open arms. The majority of the Puerto Ricans on the island consider her an American a gringa - and Maria considers this a betrayal. If she's a Puerto Rican in the United States and an American in Puerto Rico, Maria concludes that she is nobody everywhere. Her uncle, Manolo, spiritually teaches her that identity isn't based on superficial and external definitions, but rather is an essence that she has had all along in her heart.

LA GRINGA (Spanish version) opened at the Spanish Repertory Theatre in February of 1996. That year the play won an Obie award and it is still in repertory as of 2012. It is the longest running Off-Broadway Spanish language play.

REVIEWS
"90 minutes of laughter...Carmen Rivera has captured the spirit of the Puerto Rican experience." - D.J.R. Bruckner, The New York Times

"Carmen Rivera's deft playwriting delivers Maria from her personality crisis with spiritual transcendence." - Ed Morales, The Village Voice

"Carmen Rivera has succeeded in giving voice to the cultural search of Puerto Ricans raised in the Tower of Babel." - Juan Mendez, El Diario - La Presa