Main Street Theater Presents Carmela, Full of Wishes Through September 24-October 21, 2024

Show will be presented at MST’s Midtown location at 3400 Main Street

ABOUT THE SHOW: CARMELA FULL OF WISHES

Adapted by Houston’s own Alvaro Saar Rios. From the book by Matt de la Peña and Illustrated by Christian Robinson

Feliz Cumpleaños! It’s Carmela’s birthday, and she’s finally old enough to tag along with her big brother as he runs the family errands. Passing by the bodega and the lavanderia, Carmela picks a dandelion and makes a very important wish… Carmela Full of Wishes illuminates the beauty of working class neighborhoods and the power of community and family. Told through the lens of a heartfelt sibling story, this endearing play explores what hope looks like in a migrant community steeped in Mexican culture.

Grandparents’ Day at Main Street Theater!

We appreciate all you do, Grandparents! Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023 from 2:00pm – 3:00pm at the MATCH, join us for a FREE event for grandparents and their grandchildren! We’ll make Carmela dolls and dandelion crafts, have story-time, taking photos with grandparents, enjoying paletas! RSVP by Sept. 18 aarnold@mainstreettheater.com with the number of adults and children in your party. Does NOT include tickets to the play.

A Note from the Director:

Carmela Full of Wishes is such a special piece of art. It explores a very modern subject of immigration and a family separated. It also explores the importance of finding joy and hope through everyday struggles and loss.

Our path as a collaborative team was to honor these characters through exploring personal experience, knowledge, and culture. We used this same approach with the bilingual translation of the script. With the understanding that Spanish has nuances based on region and familiarity, we worked as a group to determine the level and comfortability of Spanish with each character: Mami is comfortable in her own skin and uses spanish fluidly, Papi weaves between the two languages as a way of survival and practice, Big Brother distances himself from Spanish because he’s seen what has happened to Papi, and Carmela honors the person she speaks with by speaking in their language of choice. We rooted the translations in both Central American (Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadorian) and Tejano Spanish because that’s where the cast is from and what we know.

DATES & SHOWTIMES:

Ticket Prices: $18 – $28

SUNDAYS: September 24 & October 1, 2023 at 12:30pm & 3:30pm AND SATURDAYS: October 7, 14 & 21 at 10:30am & 1:30pm

MORE INFORMATION:

Please visit www.MainStreetTheater.com.

Photo by Ricornel Productions