Recommended Plays and Playwrights to Read for National Hispanic Heritage Month 

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of artists whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Virginia Stage Company recognizes the contributions of Latinx playwrights, actors, and theatre-makers. Last season, we presented Karen Zacarias’ comedy Native Gardens, exploring race, affluence, and influence, as it shines a light on just what it means to be a good neighbor.

Virginia Stage Company’s NATIVE GARDENS, 2019.
ALEXANDRA LEMUS, MICHAEL EARLE FAJARDO, BETH GLOVER, and JOHN AHLIN
with MIGUEL GIRONA, JOEY OCTAVIANO, ENVER SIDDIKY

See more production photos from Native Gardens.

VSC teaching artist and educator Laura Agudelo shares her recommendations for Latinx authors and plays:

Two Sisters and a Piano 
by Nilo Cruz
Set in 1991, during the Pan American Games in Havana and while the Russians are pulling out of Cuba, this play portrays two sisters, Maria Celia, a novelist, and Sofia, a pianist, serving time under house arrest. Passion infiltrates politics when a lieutenant assigned to their case becomes infatuated with Maria Celia, whose literature he has been reading.

Anna in the Tropics 
by Nilo Cruz
Anna in the Tropics is a poignant and poetic new play set in Florida in 1929 in a Cuban–American cigar factory, where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is a cause for celebration, but when he begins to read aloud from Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics, and the American dream prove a volatile combination.

In the Heights 
by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Chronicling the experience of Dominican people In the vibrant New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights, bodega owner Usnavi and his friend’s dream, hope, and work for a bright future.

The House of Bernarda Alba 
by Federico Garcia Lorca
When her husband dies, Bernarda Alba seeks to protect her four daughters the only way she knows how: by confining them all to their family ranch for eight years of mourning. But where the fierce matriarch sees a shelter from the men circling their fortune like wolves, her daughters see a prison, and the only way out is marriage. Headstrong Adela longs for Pepe El Romano, a man who has been chosen for her older sister Angustias, and turns to a chorus of women for prophecy and comfort as she makes a series of fatal decisions. As the world shifts beneath them, Bernarda Alba and her daughters search for a foothold, but will they turn against each other? 

Life is a Dream
by Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Usually recognized as Calderón’s finest drama, Life Is a Dream premiered at the Royal Court of Spain. Its theme, revealed in the title, focuses on the instability of life and the illusory nature of the world. 

Two additional authors to explore are Milcha Sanchez-Scott and Maria Irene Fornes.