A shaman, witch doctor, herbalist, medicine man or a curandera; these are all names for what many people believe to be the person to visit to heal your physical, emotional and spiritual ailments. The latter of those is the focus of Elaine Romero's world premiere Curanderas! Serpents of the Clouds which will close Dec. 17 at Arizona's Invisible Theatre. The production opened Nov. 28.
The Tucson playwright's Curanderas! tells the story of a young Latina doctor who travels to Mexico. On her visit, she encounters a curandera and undergoes an experience that changes the way she looks at her healing abilities. The production is staged by Deborah Dickey.
For tickets to the premiere engagement of Curanderas! at the Invisible,1400 North First Ave, in Tucson, AZ, call (520) 882-9721.
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Following the Romero premiere, writer-performer Elizabeth Van Dyke (recently seen in OOB's Dance on Widow's Row) will perform her tribute to the first African American woman playwright, Feb. 9-11, 2001. In Love to All, Lorraine, she salutes Lorraine Hansberry, writer of A Raisin in the Sun and The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. Van Dyke also directs. The second southwest premiere of the season will be The Exact Center of the Universe, which runs Feb. 27-March 18, 2001. Carol Calkins directs this Joan Vail Thorne comedy -- which had an extended Off Broadway run -- about a southern mother who overprotects her middle-aged son and what happens when a young woman falls in love with him.
The Invisible season closes with another southwest premiere in Lee Murphy's Catch a Falling Star. Playing May 22-June 10, this comedy follows a television personality who returns home to explain to her parents a dark secret before they read about it in a magazine. Gail Fitzhugh directs the season finale.
Also playing this season are two special events: Coming Through - Ellis Island Revisited! is Wynn Handman's one-act adaptation that weaves together the stories of three immigrants as they “come through” in 1922. Amy Almquist directs the shown that runs Jan. 4-7, 2001.
Sketches - Edith Head's Hollywood plays April 11-15, 2001. This workshop production, written and conceived by Carol Calkins and Susan Claassen, is about the great Hollywood designer of the '30s and '40s. Calkins directs Claassen.
— by Ernio Hernandez
