La Luna Nueva - Festival of Hispanic Arts & Culture

Beginning September 17, Miracle Theatre Group is pleased to present “La Luna Nueva”, a festival of Hispanic arts and culture from around the world celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Like the new moon emerging from the shadows, “La Luna Nueva” shines its light on new artists and new work across a variety of disciplines. Join us for spirited flamenco, passionate tango, Cuban jazz and intimate boleros, bilingual poetry and songs from local authors and musicians, storytelling for families, open mic nights and staged readings of four new plays, including this season’s world premiere of "Boomcracklefly." For tickets and more information, call 503-236-7253 or visit http://www.milagro.org

EVENTS BY GENRE

DANCE

• Tango éxtasis Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Friday, Sept. 17, 2010 • $25 Uncover the exquisite passion and the burning intensity of tango for one night only. Let the music and the dance embrace your body and capture your heart with this unique performance showcasing moves you won’t see at milongas. Artists from Portland and Seattle include Sean Battles, Angela Bevill-Kohler, Dominic Bridge, Mauricio Carvajal, Jaimes Friedgen, Alex Krebs, Christa Rodriguez, Jenna Rohrbacher, Pols (Sungjong Oh) and Remanda Xiang.

• Aliolé: Flamenco agridulce Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010 • $25 “Agridulce” is the newest work from flamenco troupe Aliolé expressing life's bittersweet moments through singing, guitar, percussion and dance by artists living in Portland, Oregon (Mark Ferguson, guitarist; Lillie Last, dancer; Laura Onizuka, dancer; Toshi Onizuka, guitarist) and Sevilla, Spain (Melinda Hedgcorth, dancer) with special guest singer Stephanie Pedraza from Vancouver, B.C.

• Fusion Flamenco: Travesuras (“Pranks”) Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010 • $25 Flamenco guitarist Ricardo Diaz — who recently recorded his debut album in Spain’s Jerez de la Frontera, the cradle of flamenco music — taps the passionate and intense gypsy energy that will leave audiences with stories to remember. At Milagro, Diaz will be joined by international musicians Cristo Cortes, Vicente Griego and Antonio Arrebola.

MUSIC

• Una noche con Edna Vazquez One performance: 7:30 p.m. • Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 • $15 • Bilingual Portland’s rising star Edna Vazquez, a singer/songwriter/guitarist originally from Colima, Mexico, brings her dusky voice to this intimate concert filled with both original music and familiar songs. Guest artists include acoustic guitarist Juan Carlos Serbulo from Oaxaca, among others.

• Correo Aereo: A Sultry Night in Latin America Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 • $15 • Bilingual Correo Aereo (“air mail”) are Austin Music Award-winners now based in Seattle. The Latin American/world music trio performs traditional and original music from Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and beyond, combining a stunning array of string and percussive instruments with silken vocal harmonies described as “locked in carnal embrace” by the Austin Chronicle. Hailed for exciting musical virtuosity and profoundly moving performances through unknown landscapes of Latin America, their sensual music is both viscerally ancient and vibrantly contemporary. Abel Rocha plays Venezuelan and Mexican harp, guitar, cuatro, quinta huapanguera and vocals. Madeleine Sosin offers violins, maracas, bombo, jarana, quijada and vocals. They are joined by Amy Denio, (Kulture Shock & The Tiptons), on accordion, clarinet and vocals. Their music is richly polyrhythmic and soulfully melodic – soaring, fiery, haunting and joyful … this is the universal language. • Jessie Marquez: La noche de boleros (Night of Boleros) Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010 • $20 • Bilingual Jessie Marquez, an emerging Northwest Latina artist that Latino Beat Magazine calls “a musical gem,” brings to the Milagro a night filled with boleros, those intimate and poetic Cuban love songs. Pianist Clay Giberson accompanies.

• Jessie Marquez: La Habana jazz (Havana Jazz) Two performances: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. • Friday Oct. 1, 2010 • $20 • Bilingual "Jessie Marquez has become la reina of Cuban music in the Pacific Northwest,” writes Latina Style magazine, and she returns to Milagro with an evening of cool and soulful sounds of Cuban jazz. Guest artists include Upper Left Trio and Idit Shner.

LITERATURE/STORYTELLING

• Nuestro Canto: Leyendas de México (Legends of Mexico) 2 p.m. • Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010 (also Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010) • $5 ages 5-12; $10 ages 13+ • Bilingual Mexico is well known for its legends, myths and tales from the Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecs and Huicholes — legends of love, nature and everyday life. In this family-friendly bilingual performance, Nuestro Canto (Gerardo Calderón and Nelda Reyes) fills the evening with the magic of masks, movement and imaginative storytelling.

• Noche de los poetas (Poets Open Mic Night) 7 p.m. • Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 (also Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010) • Free • Bilingual Enjoy readings of work by Latino poets — from both the canons of literary giants such as Pablo Neruda and Federico García Lorca as well as original work by local authors. Audiences are invited to also bring their own Latino poetry to share in English or Spanish.

• Dreaming the Americas: Encounters/Encuentros One performance: 7:30 p.m. • Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010 • $10 • Bilingual From Latin America to the Texas border to the Northwest, “Encounters/Encuentros” dreams the Americas anew. Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez is joined by guitarist/Aztec instrumentalist Gerardo Calderón, and writer/storyteller Lynn Darroch teams up with Latin Grammy-nominated guitarist Alfredo Muro to present poetry and stories in a lively interplay with music. Gutiérrez’s poems reveal the indigenous tapestry of the Americas — from Olmec to Chinook — accompanied by Calderón on water drums, clay flutes, and wind whistles, and by Native American drumming. From Panamá to Beaverton, Darroch’s musical portraits of activists, musicians, and brujos ride the boleros, rumbas, and danzones from Muro’s guitar. Also joining the evening’s presentation are cellist Kendra Carptenter and didgeridoo player Coral Barry.

THEATRE/STAGED READINGS

• Boomcracklefly written by Charise Castro Smith One staged reading • 7 p.m. • Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 • Free • Presented in English When you spend your life dreaming, what happens when you finally get what you want? In a New York barrio, a female impersonator ignores the advice of his imaginary grandmother to fall in love with an insatiable scientist; in a Key West circus, two acrobat sisters are divided over the ghost of Ernest Hemingway; and in revolutionary Havana, a man who wishes he had wings yearns to fly away to another land. Three seemingly disparate stories weave together in a clever combination of science fiction and magical realism to create an eccentric environment that is as unsettling as it is irresistible. This staged reading is part of the development process for this new play that will have its world premiere at Miracle in March 2011.

• Our Lady of the Underpass written by Tanya Saracho One staged reading: 7 p.m. • Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010 • Free • Presented in English The same week Rome announced a new Pope, a woman driving home from work spotted an image of the Virgin Mary on a discolored wall on the Fullerton Avenue underpass. In this comedy, award-winning playwright Tanya Saracho renders the voices of those who were drawn to that wall, exploring issues of faith and desire in present day Chicago.

• Don Juan Tenorio written by José Zorrilla One staged reading: 7 p.m. • Monday, Sept. 27, 2010 • Free • Presented in Spanish (no subtitles) The legendary Don Juan, that selfish rogue who took great pleasure in defying the opponents of his romantic interests, is revisited in this classic version by José Zorrilla. Presented in its original Spanish, Don Juan Tenorio offers a chance to experience the legendary play that inspires this year’s Day of the Dead celebration at Miracle.

• Tío Pepe written by Matthew Lopez One staged reading: 7 p.m. • Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010 • Free • Presented in English The Candelarias are a family of singer/dancer/actors who dream of a life as Broadway gypsies. They live on West 66th Street in Manhattan which would be an ideal location were it not for the fact that the year is 1958 and the city of New York plans to tear down their building to make way for Lincoln Center. As their neighborhood disappears around them and eviction is imminent, they retreat more and more into the dream life that only Broadway musicals provide.