ABOUT LAS NUEVAS TAMALERAS


Written and directed by San Antonio playwright, Alicia Mena, Las Nuevas Tamaleras, is a one act bilingual comedy that captures three contemporary Chicanas in an uproariously comical attempt at making Tamales for the first time. The show erupts when the spirits of Doña Juanita and Doña Mercedes appear on the scene to invisibly guide the younger generation of women. The situation becomes even more outrageous and entertaining when the experienced Tamaleras disagree on the proper way to make the perfect tamal. The new Tamaleras blunder through the daunting task, frustrating their spiritual guides and delighting the audience.

Las Nuevas Tamaleras had it's world premier at El Teatro Bilingue de Houston's First Annual Latino Playwrights Festival in 1990.
Since then this popular play has been produced by various theatre companies through out the Southwest and regularly tours as far away as Chicago and as close to home as the Rio Grande Valley.

Las Nuevas Tamaleras is included in an anthology of Latina writers by the University of Arizona Press entitled "Puro Teatro" which was published in 1999.