MAMA is now going to really be a mama!!!!!

Congratulations to Dina! You did it, little mama. I am super-happy for you. I'm going out after work to celebrate...thanks for the excuse to go have a beer w/ some friends tonight.

Basco - Mama - Ken Sabe scene is finished.

I'll email it to anyone who wants to see it. Let me know.

Of course, Cesar & Richard, I'm forcing you to read it (and, oh, uh, memorize it as well).

Dina and Dominique and I read through the scene tonight---actually, early this morning. It met with the approval of Dina and Dom. Thank you, ladies, for your kind feedback and reassurances.

Dina apologizes for missing Monday rehearsal

Dina "Mama" Chavez had to be out on Monday because she spent about 26 hours at Parkland Memorial Hospital with a very ill cousin who needed emergency care.

I emailed Dina a copy of the revised script and she is willing to rehearse with Curandera and Esa (Dom and Opal) as soon as this wk-end.

Question about "cake mix" leads to some thinking...

Ramz:

i am so pleased at how much thought you are offering. others (involved with the play) are doing the same, and i totally welcome that.

Carlos--the dj--just spent about 3 hours going over the video with me, focusing on just the music and sound cues. then he helped me through some thought about the ending, the Mama-Esa relationship, whether or not Mama should ever
ride a bike, and more.

as far as the Cake Mix thing: mama is problematic. she is of the generation that equates "quick and easy" with wealth and power, as many folks raised in the post-war (ww2) years ended up doing. this gets heightened with "late-arriving" people of color who aren't that educated but who, like my own mother, have come to have some bit of material wealth, but aren't "educated" about how that wealth can be depleting, diminishing.

a big concept that hasn't received alot of play in contemporary theater, film, etc.

boiling it down: what do we stand to gain (or lose) if we are so caught up with "keeping up with the joneses" that we don't do a critical eval. of WHO the jones' are and WHY we came to value their values.

Mama is one of those confused upwardly-mobile Latina/Hispanics. she can now afford the conveniences of modern life, circa 1970s, 1980s, even as the more educated "elites" know that those conveniences are detrimental to our health, and more
importantly, our planet's health.

in my recent experience, i'm finding that there are younger generations and subcultural communities of people who are embracing "old world" ancient wisdom, lifestyle choices, and cultural traditions that are more sustainable--and similar to
indigenous ways. Oddly enough, alot of our parents scoff at those ways.

anyway, MAMA is caught up in the convenience food, spray-for-everything, way of life she was duped-- in her
educational process/socialization--into thinking was upper-class appropriate.

she WOULD have the mac/cheese box, the boxed cake mix, the processed-chemicalized life, cuz she thinks a woman of her means is supposed to have such things.

it is ESA who is more real. that is why there is such a schism betwn. her and MAMA.

keep thinking, questioning, suggesting. thank you.


T

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Ramz / The Shortest Distance / King BAGEL, via myspace
Date: Aug 10, 2007 5:54 PM


Hey Tammy,

I was thinking, maybe Mama shouldn't be holding instant cake mix - isn't she supposed to eat 'real food'? I don't know what else she'd get in a box from SHOP MART that would be 'real food' but just a thought.

Maybe organic wild rice or something?

ramz

Opalina, Dina, Tammy going to see author Julia Alvarez in Dallas (free reading) tomorrow.

To: Opalina

about the rehearsal/gathering you missed:

we watched vid of our Undermain show. have to ask Cesar/Raul if they can make dubs, eventually.

tomorrow, we'll be at the downtown branch of the DPL at or around 2pm. Dina is driving us (me and niece) into Dallas. Maybe we grab a coffee or something too...?

you and Dina (and Dom) will have to schedule some specific focused rehearsals anyway, so it's okay that you must miss next Monday's group rehearsal.

increasing volume and giving you more stylized movements is what i want to focus on for CURANDERA.

tomorrow, you and Dina should pick 2-3 days to meet within the next 2 weeks. when i can also be w/ you.

keep in mind: there's ONE more conversation that CURANDERA AND MAMA have together, which i'm formulating. it happens before ESA's race.

thanks!

p.s. our Austin performance fell through---no money to get us down there, budget was drastically cut by the MACC people. arghhhh. SO, OUR ONE AND ONLY NEXT PERFORMANCE IS THE PREMIERE: september 22nd - saturday, for real and for sure...!

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: opalina tlazohtzin
Date: Aug 10, 2007 11:06 AM

I got yr mssg last night, and I would love to meet ya guys on Saturday. Sounds like good times.

I have been working, sorry about missing monday. Some moron scheduled me on monday, and this next upcoming monday, but starting after next week im back to my sunday monday off sched. I just happen to be off this saturday so meeting you guys is a go.

I have some questions about our next performance, I'm almost certain that if it is the weekend of the 1rst I won't be able to do it. In Austin right? Well, I have a performance that was planned many months ago on the 1rst Its the moonlady night at the bathouse cultural center at White Rock Lake. Its in the evening that day and i'm featured as part of the mad swirl traveling circus.

Ive been struggling with this, as i had made a prior commitment, but by being in the play i had also made a commitment to the entire cast and you.

I will have to meditate on this. Nevertheless I really love being a part of this project and I promise I will be available when you need me.

Just get back to me soon, but i plan to meet you at the library.

xxoo
Opalina

mama bike speech - will be up for D to copy for only 2 days

MAMA:

[smiles] Oh boy. I remember walking after school, with my brother, and I think I was pretty old. I musta been like sixteen and I had never--nobody had ever taught me how to ride a bike. So I remember asking him, “Can I walk your bike?” So he lent me his bike, and I started walking it, and I dunno where it came from or how it came to be, but as I walked his bike I got this urge to sit on the seat and I didn’t know how to ride a bike but this urge, to sit on the bike and put my hands on the handlebars, it was like really physical--so here I’m trying to sit on it. But I wasn’t afraid, no tenía miedo and I had this feeling like “Yo puedo hacer esto, I can balance with this bike, and I can really ride this bike!!” So, I don’t know how it happened but just like magic I began riding and it was like the most amazing milagro. I was just moving on the sidewalk and not noticing my feet, not noticing what my body was doing, but I was moving with that bike and I wasn’t fighting it. It was just happening!

So, to me, it seemed like an eternity, to be floating with the bike, but of course, it was only [snaps fingers], you know, un segundito, because, after that, I felt my foot touch ground, to balance me when I stopped. But that was the first time in my entire—en toda mi vida, that I realized, “I’m learning how to ride a bike!!” [shrieks, laughs] And so, you know, I just wanted to feel that, again and again and again. All the way home, I kept trying, otra vez, y otra vez, and I will never forget that feeling like, “I’m doing this by myself.” [shudders with delight] And I’m balancing and it’s such a pleasure--and such a milagro to feel like I’m floating. So, I loved, I LOVED that day. [laughs] It was like the most magical moment. [whispers/exhales deeply] Yeah.

I'm working w/ ESA and MAMA today.

ESA - at 2:30pm to 3:30pm.
MAMA - will pop in at 3:30pm to work some ESA/MAMA scenes, then I'll work on some MAMA stuff (in case ESA has to split, that's cool) after that 'til no later than 4pm.

(I gotta do a birthday thing w/ my sister and niece--both Leos--at 5pm.)

ESA: we'll work on "cake mix monologue" and i'll introduce you to the "hate stop" poem.
MAMA: we'll work on "cake mix dialogue" with ESA and your opening scene (don't forget to ask for the BE YOUR OWN PET song) together. also, want to discuss closing scene w/ you both. afterwards, want to show you what i want to cut from your "bicycle monologue", the visual/movement possibilities for the "big poem", and whatever else comes up.

Performers excited to, uh, perform

Jul 29 2007 9:16P - myspace comment from Dominique aka ESA:

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
heh. heh.
I'm am so glad it went semi-smooth today.
Hope you are having beautiful dreams, my friend!"


Jul 29 2007 5:07P - myspace comment from Opalina aka CURANDERA:

"Thank you so much for including me in this. I had a blast today! peace and love, xoxoxoxoxo"


July 29, 2007, 5:07 pm - voicemail message from Dina aka MAMA:

"Hi, Tammy. It’s Dina. I just wanted to call and thank you, once again,
for inviting me to be a part of this presentation. Thank you, thank you
so much. I really had such a great time today and, just the group of
people that are part of this are just awesome. And I just wanted to
let you know also that I think you’re an extremely talented
writer and you’ve done a fabulous job with this script, and thank you!"


Thank you, love you, mujeres!