Teatro Paraguas Presents IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES, 3/8

Teatro Paraguas presents In The Time of The Butterflies, a new play by Caridad Svich, March 8 - 24, 2013 at the Teatro Paraguas Studio, 3205 Calle Marie, Santa Fe. Tickets are $15 general admission and $12 seniors and students; Sundays are pay what you wish.

For tickets and more information, visit:www.teatroparaguas.org

The play focuses on the memory of the Mirabal sisters, who led part of the resistance against the dictator Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. The sisters were assassinated in 1960.

TP's production is directed by Nicole Phelps and is a workshop production of the play in its English version (also by Caridad Svich). The play was originally commissioned by the Repertorio Español in New York City to be performed in Spanish. The world premiere of the play in English will be at the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis in April 2013.

Ms. Svich has constructed the play as a memory play, in which the second sister, Dede (who was not assassinated), recounts the memory of her sisters to an American writer of Dominican descent from New York. Karmela Gonzales portrays Dede, and Bernadette Peña plays The American Woman. Roxanne Tapia, Cristina Vigil, Juliet Salazar and Paola Martini play the four sisters. Rick Vargas plays multiple roles: Trujillo, a revolutionary, a chauffeur, and a disc jockey.

The play opens Friday, March 8, 2013, and runs through March 24, 2013 with performances Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.
Tickets are $15 general admission, and $12 for seniors and students. The Sunday matinees are pay-what-you-wish. Reservations may be made by calling 424-1601.

A benefit performance for Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families will take place on Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 pm., with net proceeds benefitting northern New Mexico's largest emergency residential shelter for victims of domestic violence. Esperanza offers many services, including a 24-hour crisis hotline. More info at <www.esperanzashelter.org>

Teatro Paraguas Studio is located at 3205 Calle Marie. Directions and other information is available at www.teatroparagaus.org.

The project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, Santa Fe Art Commission and the 1% Lodgers' Tax, Santa Fe Community Foundation, and the Tyson-Cook Foundation.

Patria Mercedes Mirabal (born 1924), Maria Argentina, Minerva Mirabal (born 1926), and Antonia Maria Teresa "Mate" Mirabal (born 1935) were political dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. They were part of the Movement of the Fourteenth of June. Their code name was "The Butterflies" (Las Mariposas). Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal were imprisoned and tortured. While in prison they were constantly raped. Three of the sisters' husbands were incarcerated at La Victoria Penitentiary in Santo Domingo. On November 25, 1960, Trujillo sent men to intercept the three women after they visited their husbands in prison. The unarmed sisters were led into a sugarcane field and executed along with their driver, Rufino de la Cruz. Dedé Mirabal, who was not on the trip with her sisters that day in November, was not assassinated and has lived to tell the stories of her family, and preserves her sisters' memory through the Museo Hermanas Mirabal. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 (the anniversary of the day of the murder of the Mirabal sisters) as the annual date for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in commemoration of the sisters. This day also marks the beginning of the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. The end of the 16 Days is December 10, International Human Rights Day.

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