“I wanted to be blonde. I would sleep and hope that I would wake up looking completely different,” describes Linda Nieves-Powell, a Puerto-Rican American who speaks with an unmistakable New York accent. Powell, who was once teased in the predominately white neighborhood of Long Beach in New York, is now the writer, director, and producer behind The Ultimate Latina Theater Festival, the very first of its kind to celebrate the many identities of Latinas. Held this year at the Nuyorican Poet‘s Café in Manhattan‘s Lower East Side, she introduces eight empowering plays based on true experiences from Latinas that are written and performed by both acting veterans and aspiring starlets.
“There is a huge statement I’m trying to make about us, who we are, and how we shouldn’t be forced to be anything we aren‘t,” says Powell on being compelled to create a two-week long festival dedicated to Latinas. In 1997, Powell wrote a monologue titled "Yo Soy Latina" about a 99-cent store employee who yearned to be in Hollywood. Many actresses in New York City discovered the monologue and used it for their own performances. Powell then realized that Latinas everywhere had a voice waiting to be heard.
“In 2000, I started interviewing Latinas from the age of 18-70,” she explains. “They were all saying the same thing: I just want to be who I need to be.” The festival, conducted in English, speaks out to women who want to connect with their culture, while at the same time inviting curious New Yorkers to witness the everyday conflicts that Latinas face. Some of the plays featured at The Ultimate Latina Theater Festival include Sexy Shakespeare, which retells stories from the legendary bard through burlesque, as well as Brown Girls Chronicles, intimate tales of Puerto Rican descendents surviving in Chicago’s Humboldt Park. Despite the female-dominated plays, men also have a say in The Jedi Papi Chulo and the Power Pansa, where audiences will discover how a charming man enchants two intelligent, yet very different women with magic. Yet it’s Powell’s message for women that will keep viewers coming back for more.
Powell, whose festival empowers women to accept themselves, never saw herself as a feminist. “There’s got to be a little girl in me that’s in need of standing up for herself,” she states while chuckling. “That’s why it comes out that I’m all about women.” As the festival continues making its mark in the history of Latinos in theatre, she’s already writing her second novel since the March 2008 debut of Free Style. Latino Flavored Productions, where she serves as President, will continue to create plays, even a possible film based on her famous monologue. Ultimately, she hopes that her audience, as well as her 10-year-old son, will learn to overcome society’s expectations. “I always tell Latinas that they shouldn’t be anything more than who they are. Follow your gut on what it is that you’re really suppose to do and you’ll find whatever it is that makes you happy,” she says. “It’s that simple, but very difficult to do.”
To learn more about The Ultimate Latina Theater Festival, click here. You can also catch a sneak preview below:
The Ultimate Latina Theater Festival from EKG Films on Vimeo.
