Community

"We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own." - Cesar Chavez 

It has been 20 years since Cesar Chavez passed away and these words and his personal commitment to community are still relevant today.  He was dedicated to improving his community by shining a light on the struggles and challenges they faced.  He was doing it to ignite "progress and prosperity".   Today as a community we face challenges and struggles.  The news is always displaying injustice, inequality, and stories of exclusion.  Recent news events have drawn lines to highlight our differences.  We have forgotten to "include the aspirations and needs of others... for our own (sake)".  Challenging our understanding of other cultures and other people is necessary to create prosperous communities. It is this essence that Teatro del Pueblo presents stories of the Latino community. These stories about our history and struggle provide a place to further  intercultural understanding and lead to more tolerance and respect among people.  It is not only for ourselves but for our greater community that we are motivated.  

Have You Met Our Newest Associate?

Join us in welcoming Amy Poulson to the staff of Teatro del Pueblo. She is our Development Associate -- writing grant proposals, organizing fundraising events, keeping our stakeholders informed about Teatro's current and upcoming programs, and providing administrative assistance to keep the office running smoothly.

This summer, Amy will also be supervising two interns -- one who will focus on Office Management and another who will focus on Marketing & Educational Development. She looks forward to working with enthusiastic students and/or other individuals who are interested in working in the very special world of not-for-profit fine arts and educational production.

Amy attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating summa cum laude with a BA in Speech Communication and Business. She has 18 years of corporate experience, working primarily as a consultant inTraining and Development, Organizational Development, and Marketing. With an extensive array of volunteer experience, Amy brings her passion for excellence and contribution, a love of the arts, and a renewed commitment to acting (voice and stage) to Teatro del Pueblo.

Welcome to our team Amy!

Touring "Help Wanted"

Our show "Help Wanted", written and directed by Virginia McFerran has been touring to schools and universities with great success. This is one of our most well received shows by teachers and school administrators because it opens a dialog about immgration, diversity, unions, civil and gender rights.

At Drake University, Des Moines IA, on April 5, 2012

The actors in Help Wanted include: Joy Chavarria, Katia Cardenas, Delta Giordano, Silvia Pontaza, Matt Rei. Touring Stage manager Juan Lopez.

On May 9, 2012, The Mankato Diversity Council brought schools from the area together to participate in The Integration Collaborative Program, where Teatro del Pueblo presented "Help Wanted" to four hundred middle school and high school students, who came to Gustavus Adolphus College, where this activity wa being held. At the end of the show, all the students participated in a workshop about diversity, lead by Al Justiniano from Teatro del Pueblo

Sustainability in Theatre

Al Justiniano, Teatro del Pueblo's artistic director was invited to participate as a guest panelist in this year's Minnesota Theater Alliance conference on Sustainability in Theatre. The conference on April 30- May1, 2012 focused on how inspiration, innovation and tangible choices in different parts of the world have made a difference in the way we run our theaters.

The conference was attended by a large number of theater artists from the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota as well as participants from New York and London via Skype.

Al was part of a panel dealing with Sustainable Administrations. He spoke about the intricacies of Teatro del Pueblo's ongoing collaborative effort with Pangea World Theater.  He discussed the challenges and rewards of developing a new type of collaborative framework that is both equitable and that leans itself to capacity building for both companies.


                                                     Al Justiniano from Teatro del Pueblo

Meena Natajaran from Pangea World Theater 

Other participants in the conference included sessions in Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, connected by Google+. Presenters included Michelle Hensley, Jack Reuler, Hal Cropp, Laura Zabel, Damon Runnals, Theresa Sweetland and Joanna Harmon among others.

The House on Mango Street Reaches New Heights

This weekend (April 26-29) is your last opportunity to see "The House on Mango Street," the latest collaborative production between Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater. You won't want to miss it! For individual ticket sales, please go to www.brownpapertickets.com. For group sales (10+), call Al at 651-224-8806.

This heartwarming and eye-opening story about a young Mexican-American girl, Esperanza, paints a vivid picture about growing up in "el Barrio." This play, based on the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Sandra Cisneros, marks the third collaborative production between Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater.

New milestones achieved during this production?

• The most well-attended collaborative production thus far - expanding our reach into the community
• Seven out of the eight actors were Latino - providing an opportunity to showcase, support and develop an underutilized fine arts resource
• The most well-attended school matinee performances and post-show discussions - reaching over 1200 students

We are honored and grateful to have received such a favorable review by Anna Hoeschen at tcdailyplanet. Please click on the link below for her remarks:

TC Planet Review

And finally, another first: one very special birthday girl was flown to the Twin Cities from Dallas, TX by her boyfriend to see this performance on opening weekend. The House on Mango Street was her favorite novel as a girl, and her boyfriend wanted her to experience the only theatrical production of The House on Mango Street in the nation. Happy Birthday! Thank you for celebrating with us.

Teaching of Langages and Cultures Conference

Our golden past, our golden future was the theme at the 2011 Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures (MCTLC) conference this October. MCTLC’s mission is to advance the teaching of world languages and cultures in Minnesota by bringing educators together for a sharing of knowledge and ideas.

At this year’s conference Teatro performed The Adventures of Juan, a puppet show about a young Chicano boy discovering his heritage and culture through visits from mythical Minnesotan and Mexican historical figures. After the performance the actors and artistic director, Al Justiniano, engaged participants in a short interactive workshop about the themes brought up in the show, including cultural alienation, and the dehumanization that can occur against immigrant communities in Minnesota.

A main purpose of Teatro’s participation in the conference was to spread the word about the upcoming performance of The House on Mango Street, a play adapted from the beloved coming-of-age novel about a young girl growing up in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Along with spring performance Teatro is offering in-school residencies to explore the themes represented in the book and upcoming show to students studying the House on Mango Street in their classrooms.

Teatro will continue to be involved in showcasing their programs at the next MCTLC conference next year. Thanks to the organizers for providing Teatro with the excellent opportunity. Until next year!

House on Mango Street

In collaboration with Pangea World Theater, Teatro is bringing The House on Mango Street to the Twin Cities. Adapted from the beloved coming-of-age novel written by Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street is the story of a young girl growing up in Chicago who struggles with wanting to leave her Latino neighborhood and hold onto her identity as a Mexican-American woman.

The Play beautifully captures the moving story of the book while transforming it for the stage in a series of vignettes. The play follows the protagonist, Esperanza, as she grows up while under the watchful eye of Esperanza's adult self who narrates the story.

The play will premiere this spring at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Exact show dates will be released soon.