Main Street Theater's CARMELA, FULL OF WISHES

Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Have Their Say

Tony Diaz welcomes key members of Main Street Theater’s current production of CARMELA, FULL OF WISHES, playing Sept. 24 – Oct. 21 at MST’s Midtown location at 3400 Main Street, 77002 at the MATCH. Adapted by Nuestra Palabra's very own Alvaro Saar Rios from the best selling book by Matt de la Peña, Tony speaks with Alvaro, Laura Moreno, the play’s director, and Jacqueline Vasquez, the actor playing Carmela, about this wonderful play and it's importance in telling our stories.

On our show, we have:

Laura Moreno (Director) Main Street Theater: (Director) Last Stop on Market Street (Costume Design) Miss Nelson Is Missing! The Musical!, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Dragons Love Tacos; Alley Theatre: (Assistant Director): A Midsummer Night’s Dream, What-a-Christmas!; Mildred’s Umbrella: Ladies’ Night: Beckett Shorts; Lamar University: The Revolutionists; Jewish Community Center: Photograph 51; Horse Head Theatre Company: Church, Judgement of Fools; Gravity Players: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; Duchesne Academy: Little Women, The Importance of Being Earnest. Education: M.F.A, University of Houston, Directing; M.A, University of Houston, Arts Leadership; B.F.A., University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance, Acting.

Jacqueline Vasquez plays Carmela in our current production, and she’ll be back right after Carmela Full of Wishes for Disney’s Beauty & the Beast at Main Street Theater! Other credits include: James and the Giant Peach (swing), Miss Nelson is Missing! The Musical; Haven Arts: She Kills Monsters. Education: Texas Christian University.

Alvaro Saar Rios is a Texican playwright living in Chicago. His plays have been seen in New York City, Mexico City, Hawaii, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and all over Texas. His award-winning plays include Luchadora!, On the Wings of a Mariposa and Carmela Full of Wishes. Mr. Rios is Playwright-In-Residence at Milwaukee's First Stage and a proud veteran of the US Army (he used to drive tanks). Originally from Houston, Alvaro teaches playwriting at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

About CARMELA FULL OF WISHES

Feliz Cumpleaños! It’s Carmela’s birthday, and she’s finally old enough to tag along with her big brother as he runs the family errands. Passing by the bodega and the lavanderia, Carmela picks a dandelion and makes a very important wish… Carmela Full of Wishes illuminates the beauty of working class neighborhoods and the power of community and family. Told through the lens of a heartfelt sibling story, this endearing play explores what hope looks like in a migrant community steeped in Mexican culture.

CARMELA FULL OF WISHES

Adapted by Alvaro Saar Rios

From the book by Matt de la Peña

Illustrated by Christian Robinson

Tony Diaz

Writer and activist Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante, is a Cultural Accelerator. He was the first Chicano to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. In 1998, he founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say (NP), Houston’s first reading series for Latino authors. The group galvanized Houston’s Community Cultural Capital to become a movement for civil rights, education, and representation. When Arizona officials banned Mexican American Studies, Diaz and four veteran members of NP organized the 2012 Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle books from the banned curriculum back into Arizona. He is the author of The Aztec Love God. His book, The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital, is the first in his series on Community Organizing. Tony hosts Latino Politics and News and the Nuestra Palabra Radio Show on 90.1 FM, KPFT, Houston’s Community Station. He is also a political analyst on “What’s Your Point?” on Fox 26 Houston.

www.Librotraficante.com

www.NuestraPalabra.org

www.TonyDiaz.net

Nuestra Palabra is funded in part by the BIPOC Arts Network Fund.

Instrumental Music produced / courtesy of Bayden Records baydenrecords.beatstars.com