Story/Teller

Story/Teller Arts: Quiara Alegría Hudes on My Broken Language

Monday, 7:00 pm EDT May 13, 2024

The Center for Fiction
& Livestreamed

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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes (Water by the Spoonful) joins The Center for Fiction to celebrate the play adaption of her memoir My Broken Language with the full cast of the premiere Signature Theatre production. In this memoir-turned-play, Hudes showcases a handful of key life moments that mark subtle changes in her sense of self and her place in the world. Interlaid between these vignettes are moments of song, dance, and ritual that evoke her boisterous girlhood in a house run by the Perez women. Featuring performances by the original cast (Yadira Correa, Zabryna Guevara, Yani Marin, Samora la Perdida, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Marilyn Torres) and a rich discussion with Hudes on her coming of age, the craft of book-to-screen adaptation, and the communal nature of autobiography, this is a can’t-miss event. After the event, Hudes will sign copies of the play.

The Center for Fiction is thrilled to continue its collaboration with Theatre Communications Group for this event, with past events featuring Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine; Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; Heidi Schreck and Paula Vogel; Sarah Ruhl and Matthew Aucoin; Aleshea Harris and Nissy Aya; Lynn Nottage and Damon Tabor; Martyna Majok, Naveen Kumar, and David Zayas; Taylor Mac and Laura Collins-Hughes; Will Arbery, Chloé Cooper Jones, and Leslie Jamson; James Ijames and Jonathan McCrory; Tony Kushner and Isaac Butler; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Jocelyn Bioh.

By registering for this co-presented event, you agree to share your information with The Center for Fiction and Theatre Communications Group.

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Featuring

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    Quiara Alegría Hudes

    Quiara Alegría Hudes

    Quiara Alegría Hudes is the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful; author of the memoir, My Broken Language; and screenwriter of Vivo. For Broadway, she wrote the book for the Tony Award–winning musical, In the Heights, as well as the screenplay for its film adaptation. Her essays have appeared in The Nation, The Cut, New York Times, Washington Post, and American Theatre. With her cousin, Hudes cofounded Emancipated Stories to help incarcerated people share one page of their life story with the world.


    Photo Credit: Jon M. Chu

Featured Book

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    My Broken Language

    By Quiara Alegría Hudes

    Published by Theatre Communications Group

    PURCHASE

    Cover design by Rodrigo Corral

    Quiara Alegría Hudes’ stage adaptation of her much-lauded memoir is a joyous celebration of Puerto Rican womanhood in 1990s West Philadelphia.

    Rather than attempting to tell the story of an entire life in ninety minutes, Hudes selects key moments that mark subtle changes in her sense of self and her place in the world. Through Hudes’ eyes we witness her discovery of her mother’s Santería practice, her realization that her cousin cannot read despite having graduated from high school, and her own gradual self-discovery through books by Pabla Neruda, Sanda Cisneros, and William Shakespeare. Interlaid between these stories are moments of song, dance, and ritual that evoke Hudes’ boisterous girlhood in a house filled with “the Perez women.” Five actresses alternate between playing Quiara herself and the other women of the story, emphasizing the communal nature of autobiography. Through this piece, we come to understand how Hudes’ plays are in many ways continuations of the stories she was surrounded by as a child.

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About this series

Story/Teller

Our Story/Teller series features actors reading from new works of fiction to give audiences a taste of the language, characters, and story, followed by moderated conversations with the authors.

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