Querida Sor Juana
Excerpts to be staged in May 2023!
Querida Sor Juana/ Dear Sor Juana was originally conceived as a dramatic reading of the letters of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1696) for the Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival (BAWTF). It was to be staged in March 2020 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, in the heart of San Francisco’s Latinx community. Covid-19 postponed the event, but like the phoenix, it rises again as Querida Sor Juana: The Death of the Phoenix of México. A public workshop will take place in May 2023, date and location TBA; click here to stay updated!
Created by local Latinx theater artist Carolina Morones, Querida Sor Juana is a fan letter to the 17th century poet nun of Mexico for her feminist contributions to the question of women’s rights and education. Morones' dramatization of Sor Juana’s writing celebrates a cultural icon at a time of great strain due to the pandemic, US immigration policies, and rhetorical attacks in the social and political arenas.
In this production Morones investigates themes relevant to Bay Area residents such as censorship, women’s physical and intellectual autonomy. Relentlessly censored by church and state, Sor Juana’s prolific work as a scholar, poet, and playwright in the 17th century garnered her recognition as “ the 10th muse of Mexico”. However, her writings were considered heretical and unbecoming of a woman to such an extent that both her intellectual and physical autonomy were challenged and ultimately controlled by those in power.
Extremely popular in her time, her life ended in a secluded monastery during an outbreak of plague, which further echoes our current times. Her timeless themes continue to resonate in a community grappling with the same questions. As Sor Juana wrote in response to the Bishop of the city of Mexico challenging his order to censor her “how can it be: that we, as women, are praised and shown off for our brilliance while our rights, human rights, are being stripped away?”
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Carolina (she/her) is a multidisciplinary performer, educator and community organizer focused on telling stories that empower through poetry and movement. For 2021's Free Shakespeare in the Park, she was the Pre-Show, Audience Engagement Director and played the role of Marina in Pericles, Prince of Tyre. In 2020 she was honored to be the Movement Director and Cultural Consultant for Octavio Solis’ Retablos: Life on the Border with Word For Word at ZSpace. Carolina currently teaches for The American Conservatory Theatre (Studio-ACT), Word For Word (SF) and is the Education & Engagement Consultant for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Recently she was appointed Associate Teacher for the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium, teacher and actor training program. Other credits include: Lucia in FADE, Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) InterPlay series; Juliet in Takes on Romeo & Juliet (SFShakes); Titania in Takes on A Midsummer Night’s Dream (SF Shakes); Ginny in Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue, The Pear Theatre; Sonia Sotomayor in She Persisted, the Musical and Sally in El Gato Ensombrerado at Bay Area Children’s Theatre and Beatrice in Much Ado Para Nada at Shakespeare in Detroit. |
