Touched By Your Generous Reception
A belated shout-out to The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and its staff, and the 200 folks who attended Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? in San Antonio last month. I loved performing for a largely bilingual and bicultural audience, and this was the most enthusiastic audience I’ve ever had. And lucky me, I’ve only had wonderful audiences since I premiered my solo show 18-months ago.
So touched that folks came from throughout South Texas, a large number people I grew up with in Alice, and also Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, Yoakum, Houston. It was wonderful to reconnect with cousins, and hometown folks. I greatly appreciate the moving stories you shared after the show. Please continue to share your name stories with me. Send them to me at irmadherrera@gmail.com. I’m collecting them in a book with the working title, Tell Me Your Name.
Heartfelt thanks to my niece Monique Herrera whose bakery, Cake Art, cakeartsa.com prepared a beautiful cake for the post-show reception. The morning after my show a dozen plus friends gathered for desayuno and cafecito at Pico de Gallo Restaurant. Wonderful to catch up with folks I’ve known since childhood, and to make new San Antonio friends.
But the excitement didn’t end there as that evening I landed in the hospital and underwent an emergency appendectomy. Lucky me I was well-treated at a spanking new hospital and I have good health insurance (many folks in our country do not ). My surgery kept me in San Antonio a few days longer than planned. Unfortunately my spouse and I couldn’t travel to Maine for the wedding of a dear friends’ son.
So that’s my excuse for the delay in thanking all y’all for the fine Tejano welcome. I can’t wait to go back to San Antonio and further south, where I hope to perform at several colleges next Spring on my Tour de Aztlán. Don’t hear the term much these days. If you don’t know what Aztlán means or need a refresher, click here: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5978/Aztl-n.html
Check out this nice audience-member review of my San Antonio show.
“Saw Irma’s one person performance in San Antonio on July 21. IT WAS AWESOME. She kept the audience engaged throughout the show with humor and wit. She covered points of social injustice from the past that are still with us today in a manner that was interesting and appealing. I recommend this show to everyone regardless of age, gender, background. Additionally, I must say Irma was very creative coming up with this manner to address the subject."
--Jose A. Benavides
Full disclosure, Jose A. was my senior year prom date, whom I had not seen in 40+ years. Wonderful to reconnect with him and meet his lovely wife the evening of the show.
San Francisco Fringe Festival – Four Shows in September
Super excited to be performing four shows at the San Francisco Fringe Festival which runs from September 8-23. If you've never been to a Fringe Festival you are in for a treat. Most show are an hour long and you can see several shows in one evening or afternoon. The 30+ shows at the SF Fringe are under the same roof at the three stages at the Exit Theatre 156 Eddy St. SF. An eclectic mix of performances, check them out at sffringe.org.
If you were at my San Antonio, Fresno, or San Francisco performances and you are up to writing a mini-review, you can post it at the SF Fringe website. Folks read these and it helps them decide which of the 30+ shows to see. http://www.theexit.org/reviews/why-r/
If you saw the earlier version of my play, you’ll find that Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name has lots of new material. As my play tackles the subjects of prejudice and racism it is ever changing.
Exit Theatre 156 Eddy St. San Francisco:
Saturday 9/9 4 pm
Tuesday 9/12 8:30 pm
Thursday 9/14 7 pm
Sunday 9/17 7 pm
Tickets $10 at the door (25% of tickets are reserved for same day sale). To make sure you get a seat buy tickets online ($12.99 with service fees) at http://www.sffringe.org/why/
Look forward to seeing you there.