Blog | Irma Herrera Playwright/Solo Performer

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Can I Just Call You Dr. C?

Nov 27, 2019
4 min

Can I Just Call You Dr. C?

Re: Your work is done That was the subject line in the email I received earlier this week from my friend and colleague Eva Paterson. Ha! If only. She attached the tweet posted by Dr. Chirumamilla sharing her delight that her new colleagues had the good sense to learn to say her name. Thanks Dr. Chirumamilla for allowing me to share your tweet with my readers. As she reports, one feels seen and welcomed when people make the effort to learn our names. How I wish everyone was tr

15 Minutes of Fame

Oct 7, 2019
4 min

15 Minutes of Fame

Last week I had the honor of serving as the Emcee at the Awards Ceremony for the California ChangeLawyers Leaders Summit. Click here to learn more about their work. The event venue at San Francisco’s UC Hastings Law School looked like the United Nations, with folks from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. There we were - gay, straight, trans, disabled, wearing hijab, suits and jeans. I love being in these spaces, which feel so welcoming. It was an informative and inspiring

Pay It Forward

Sep 8, 2019
4 min

Pay It Forward

"Everyone please go see this show! You hear people say “Art is Resistance” . . . well this definitely fits that bill. You are taken on a journey with Irma from childhood, adolescence to adulthood. Her experiences navigating through sexism and racism pull you in because they are so relatable. Your memory is provoked regarding your own personal story about power dynamics and how they relate to your name, identity, culture, gender, ethnicity, immigration status and/or profession

Colorism

Sep 2, 2019
5 min

Colorism

In Alice Walker’s 1983 book, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose, she coined the term “colorism” to define a form of discrimination: “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on the color of their skin.” Folks from African-American, Asian, Latinx communities are often reluctant to acknowledge this form of prejudice, knowing full well that it invites comments such as: why the big to-do about our discriminating against them, they disc

Aug 18, 2019
2 min

Who Is Safe?

The version of my play that was on stage for five months through the end of March 2019 poses a series of questions (paraphrased here). Does having a Muslim ban make us safer? Does it add to our nation’s security when we separate and cage immigrant children from parents seeking asylum? What does it say about a country that needs a massive social movement to tell us that Black Lives Matter? And I can assure you that ALL efforts to strip gay, lesbian, and transgender folks of th

It’s a Wrap!

Mar 30, 2019
4 min

It’s a Wrap!

March is my birthday month, and I recently came upon this photo of last year's b'day cake with a line from my show -- you can remember my name isn’t UR-ma by thinking of “Ear-muff.” My one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? completed a successful 5-month run and closed last weekend at The Berkeley Marsh Theater. Thank you to all who attended. I was so pleased with the full houses both Saturday evening and on Sunday’s final matinee. An absolute thrill to receive

Women Leading the Way

Mar 9, 2019
3 min

Women Leading the Way

March 8 -- it's International Women's Day, and women are leading and have been leading the way in so many arenas, too often without recognition. So pleased that my talkback guests this weekend are two women leaders. Saturday, March 9 (5 pm showtime) Navigating Disability: Trump Era’s Clarion Call for Advocates and Activists to Come Out of the (Inaccessible) Closet with Ingrid Tischer The Disability Rights Movement is an important part of this nation’s civil rights history. An

Homestretch – Final Weeks in Berkeley

Feb 28, 2019
3 min

Homestretch – Final Weeks in Berkeley

It has been such an honor and joy to present my one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? in the San Francisco Bay Area these past four months. I am now entering the homestretch with two performances weekly: Saturday at 5 pm and Sunday at 2 pm at The Berkeley Marsh Theater. Although the show previously had two extensions, I have other commitments including travel plans, so it is definitely closing on Sunday, March 24th. The Marsh Theater describes my show this way

¿Hablas Español?

Feb 15, 2019
4 min

¿Hablas Español?

Topping the list of the many things I am grateful for is being a bilingual Spanish speaker. This was the language of our home and there was never any question that we would speak it. We lived in a segregated Mexican-American community and attended a segregated parochial school. Everyone around us spoke Spanish. AND we kids were also fluent English speakers. Efforts by the nuns at St. Joseph’s to punish the Spanish out of us were unsuccessful. “Es-panish not allowed, you will

Talkback Heaven

Feb 7, 2019
5 min

Talkback Heaven

“The final line is spoken, the audience applauds, the actors take their bows. But at an increasing number of theaters, the night isn’t over. Audiences often settle back into their seats. It’s time for the talkback, a chance to discuss the play with the actors, the director or sometimes the playwright.” These are the opening lines in an article in the LA Times, “The theater talkback: Why they're popular, and why playwrights aren't always pleased:. Click here to read article. W

STOP Calling it TIA-Wanna

Jan 10, 2019
3 min

STOP Calling it TIA-Wanna

So many cities in the United States have names from languages other than English. Native American languages gave us Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha. Plenty of cities, big and small, with Spanish names -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tornillo. And the French graced us with Lafayette, Des Moines, Baton Rouge. Most newscasters anglicize these names, which I find slightly annoying but doesn’t beget any action beyond a few moments of ranting. But. There. Are. Limits. Lately I can’t stop

Show Extended 'thru 1/26

Dec 6, 2018
6 min

Show Extended 'thru 1/26

Yippee, My Show Got Extended Through January 26, 2019 Thanks to the wonderful support of all y’all who have attended my show, and/or told your friends about it, the Saturday shows have been selling out. The Marsh has extended my run and added six additional performances starting Saturday, December 22nd through Saturday, January 26th. If you haven’t yet seen it, you can catch Why Would I Mispronounce My OwnName? over the holidays, and throughout January. Please note there is n

Thanks. Gracias.

Nov 23, 2018
5 min

Thanks. Gracias.

My one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? has been on stage at The Marsh Theater in San Francisco almost a month. Thank YOU to all who have been at one of the performances. A special welcome to those of you who signed up for my newsletter, or are now linked with me on social media. Please tell your friends and colleagues about my show; we built audiences through word of mouth. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of inviting Talkback Speakers who join me on stag

It's Showtime

Oct 23, 2018
4 min

It's Showtime

Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? That’s me, and my director Rebecca Fisher, in front of The Marsh Theater before our tech rehearsal Monday morning. It’s Showtime! My one-woman show starts on Thursday, October 25th, with several preview performances: Thursdays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 5 pm. Formal opening night is Saturday, November 3rd. It’s exciting to see my posters up in San Francisco. Hope to see lots of Bay Area folks at my seven-week run. Tickets start at $20, $5 d

One-Month Countdown

Sep 26, 2018
3 min

One-Month Countdown

One month from today, October 25th, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? opens for a seven-week run at San Francisco's Marsh Theater. I am so excited. Folks ask me, don’t you get nervous? You bet I do. Before each show, I’m back stage and this voice inside my head yells at me, “what the heck were you thinking? You’re gonna go out there in front of all those people?” I take a few deep breaths, put on my ear buds and start dancing. I especially love the Rolling Stones’ Dancing

Did I Sound "Illegal"?

Sep 16, 2018
5 min

Did I Sound "Illegal"?

Six years ago, I was co-directing the Women Immigrants Project at New America Media in San Francisco. I called a state legislator in Alabama to interview her about the state's anti-immigrant law -- HB 56. After the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio pushed Arizona's "show me your papers" law, other states began proposing similar measures. Before I tell you about that phone call with a staff member of the Alabama House of Representatives, let me say a bit more about what was going