A table reading series by San Antonio’s Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center gives playwrights an opportunity to share works that reflect the Chicano/a experience.
The Teatro Salon series centers on stories of Latinidad, family, and history.
Three local Latina playwrights were chosen to present their unpublished plays before an audience as part of this year’s series.
Playwright and poet Irene Chavez wrote Las Comadres de Morales Street, a story about strong women elders of the West Side who cope with COVID, gentrification, and disinvestment.
Chavez said she based the story on Vietnam Latino veterans from Edgewood ISD, which had the largest sacrifice of any school district in the nation.
“It’s that bit of an emphasis on the lost history within our community that … most people don’t realize it,” she said. “It’s not written anywhere, it’s not taught.”
Pass it On, written by spoken word artist Amalia Ortiz, centers on a middle class family of Chicanas living on the borderlands who see their lives go into a tailspin because of a chain letter.
Both were presented to audiences earlier this year.
Patricia Zamora wrote El Monstro, A Play with Music, which follows families devastated by the deadly 1921 flood that killed at least 80 people.
Zamora, a screenwriter and actor, said she’s excited to hear feedback on her play.
“I'm looking for the reading to help inform any changes and tweaks and additional songs and story elements that I need to write,” she said.
El Monstro will be presented Dec. 21 at 3 p.m. at the Guadalupe Latino Book Store at 1300 Guadalupe.
