CWU To Host National Hispanic Heritage Month Theatrical Production

September 22, 2004

Contact: Leslie J. Webb (509-963-1685/fax 509-963-3561/e-mail: webble@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Central Washington University's Diversity Education Center will host a free, public presentation of "mipueblo.biz," Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. in the Samuelson Union Building (SUB) Ballroom.

The dramatic production will be performed by members of "El Teatro Milagro," the international touring theatre company of the Portland, Ore., based Miracle Theatre Group, which shares the diversity of Latin America and serves as an advocate for global unity through theatre.

The original, bilingual play was written by Dañel Malán, Miracle Theatre co-founder, who will portray Sister Dolores -- a nun with a laptop -- in the production. It's about a missionary who arrives at small village in the Peruvian Andes with good intentions and grand ideas.

With her laptop, she shares a global view the villagers have never seen and the possibilities of selling their culture and lives on the Internet. The villagers are then forced to decide whether they're ready to sacrifice the security of their secluded life and who will control their destiny.

"In the interest of promoting diverse voices in our community and because Kittitas County has a sizeable Chicano population, we felt it was important to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by bringing mipueblo.biz to campus," Jen Ham, CWU Diversity Education Center programmer, says.

Initiated by Congress in 1968, the annual National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, honors the culture, heritage and contributions of Hispanic Americans.

Teatro Milagro's 2004 season tour of mipueblo.biz is supported by the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, Boeing, Mervyn's, Target, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Goodman Foundation, Carpenter Foundation, Medford Fabrication/Thorndike Family, Wells Fargo, oyetu.com, powells.com and El Hispanic News.

For more information about the CWU presentation, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1685, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.