Audience Transported to Other Lands through Teatro en Español

For a few minutes, a classroom was transformed into an apartment in Spain, where an estranged husband and wife argued. The tension between these two was palpable as they debated one of the most difficult parts of divorce: Who gets custody of the beloved dog?

Spanish 300 students Patricio Garza and Glamarys Sierra portrayed the couple from Resguardo Personal (Personal Safeguard), a play by Paloma Pedrero of Spain. Their performance was part of Teatro en Español, an event featuring five dramatic readings presented by Professor Iani Moreno’s Introduction to Literary Analysis class.

Throughout the semester, Moreno, an associate professor of Spanish in the World Languages & Cultural Studies Department, reviewed various genres with her students. Instead of offering a basic primer on Latin American and Spanish literature, students gained a comprehensive understanding of plays, poetry, film, songs and other literature.

“We studied key Latin American and Spanish works, and I taught students how to analyze them,” she says. “When the focus of the class moved on to theater, we actually staged scenes from the plays we studied.”

Moreno not only had the students perform in class, she went a step further by creating Teatro en Español. The event offered them a way to showcase their fluency in Spanish.

Glamarys Sierra, 2014, a Spanish major and education minor, was hesitant when Monero first introduced the concept of Teatro en Español.

“Initially I didn’t think it was something that I wanted to do,” she says. “It turned out to be a great opportunity to practice what we learn in class.”

Teatro en Español included students performing scenes from other plays including, El censo, which introduced the audience to corruption in Mexican Society. Delantal blanco focused on the division of social classes in Latin American society, and Inviernodiscussed the perils of illegal immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Historia de como nuestro amigo Panchito Gonzáles se sintió responsable de la epidemia de la peste bubónica en Africa del Sur depicted how international corporations take advantage of developing countries.

The Wednesday, April 17, performances were free and open to the public and featured the following student performers:. 
El censo (The Census) by Emilio Carballido of Mexico

• Beatrice Sidoli-Tronchi
• Dani Fitzgerald
• Vanessa Castano
• Morgan Grant
• Melissa Marquez

El delantal blanco (The White Apron) by Sergio Vodanovic of Chile

• María Iacomacci
• Victoria Vazquez

Historia de como nuestro amigo Panchito Gonzáles se sintió responsable de la epidemia de la peste bubónica en Africa del Sur (The Story of How Our Friend Panchito Gonzáles Felt Responsible for the Bubonic Plague Epidemic in South Africa) by Osvaldo Dragún of Argentina

• Ray Sciarretta
• William Dolan
• Sean Patrick McCormick
• Kristen Adams

Resguardo personal (Personal Safeguard) by Paloma Pedrero of Spain

• Patricio Garza
• Glamarys Sierra

Invierno (Winter) by Hugo Salcedo of Mexico

• Jose Marcos Rodrigues
• Natasha DeLeón