podcast

The Panza Manalá is a play written by Virginia Gris and Irma Mayorca that celebrates Mexican-American women and challenges societal beauty standards. The play emphasizes the importance of embracing and appreciating one's body, specifically the stomach, or "panza" in Spanish. It also addresses issues of abuse and trauma experienced by women. The authors drew inspiration from the Vagina Monologues. The play aims to connect and empower the Latino community and promote empathy for women facing constant scrutiny. The author believes that the play should be performed in Los Angeles, given its large Latino population, and highlights the need for representation and addressing neglect and health issues in low-income communities. The play's themes and messages resonate with the audience and can attract more theater-goers, especially Latinos, who often feel underrepresented. Representation in theater is crucial in fostering understanding and empathy among different communities. To all the panzas in the world for which there is hunger, pain, or sorrow, you all inspire us to work harder. Quoted in the play, the Panza Manalá is written by Virginia Gris and Irma Mayorca. Hello everyone, my name is Cecilia Esquivel and I'm here to talk about this play called the Panza Manalá. I should also note that I am Mexican-American and so this play and this subject is something that's very personal to me and something that I do and I can relate to. So this play, just to give you some background, it's a collection of thoughts and feelings of Mexican-American women and how instead of, you know, taking criticisms and internalizing them of the way that, you know, we're supposed to look, we should instead revel in our bodies, in our panzas, as they say in Spanish, which is the, in English, it's stomachs. I believe due to the important message of the play, it should be put on in more theaters here locally in Los Angeles. There is a thriving Latino Chicano community here and this play is just going to be a learning tool for all in that community and for those who aren't in the community, it can learn empathy for women who are constantly being scrutinized. So just some more background and summary of the play, so the two artists took inspiration from the Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler and that, that, those collection of monologues are stories of women who talk about their vaginas and being open about them and that play highlights just the liberation of women. And so, again, they took inspiration from that, but this play more specifically highlights the importance of stomachs and how they can be a source of life and they connect back to earth and, again, just disassociating from societal standards. You know, the stomach is connected to the heart and if we don't take care of ourselves and we strain ourselves to meet the standards of society, we just end up hurting ourselves more than we realize. Yeah, we must just appreciate ourselves and in this collection of monologues, in this story, there are also personal stories of abuse and how, you know, we can really just internalize all of the trauma that we go through and we have to be mindful of this and give ourselves grace. And so, yeah, it's just basically about women who are being scrutinized by the way that we look and how stomach, how flat our stomachs should be. And so the playwrights definitely intended for it to help women rediscover the power in their pances and forgive our judgments. So I just want to talk about more specifically why this play should be put on here locally. I mean, that's such an important message, but there's also just other things as to why I believe it should be put on. So I just, I want to talk a little bit more about some of the themes of the play and the author's intentions and how it relates more specifically to the Latino community, which, again, is big, a big, big, big, big, big portion of the demographic of L.A. So the author both did an interview with Dahlia Grossman Hinesman with Miss Magazine about the play. And the interview just kind of asked them questions about, like, you know, what inspired you to write the play? How did you come about writing the play and that sort of thing? And the interview kind of talked about the vagina monologues and its connection and inspiration to this one. And even when I was quoted saying, we admire the vagina monologues, but before we can start talking about our vaginas and chochas and all these things, which are not so Latin to talk about, we have this other thing, which is our bodies, our bellies, our panzas. It's very cultural. Everybody talks about the panza, whether it's, are you pregnant or are you heavy? It's just much more of a cultural kind of a metaphor. And just in all, it helps to, and that was the end of the quote, but again, in all, it just helps Mexican women and people within the Latino community connect to one another. I would just like to note that she also talked about, well, both of them also talked about how politically there's not that many healthy options in low-income communities, so it's very easy to be unhealthy. Yeah, so, like, these non-healthier options just contribute to the larger panza, you know, to these people being quote-unquote overweight. And then, of course, the criticisms that follow when you're overweight. And Virginia was quoted saying, we're learning about these systems, and in learning about the systems, why not center our body in everything that we do? Because if we can't take care of our own bodies, then how are we going to do all this work? So it just really highlights that there is a lot of neglect within these communities and these low-income communities being predominantly people of color. This issue just really needs to be addressed and tended to and talked about, honestly, because it's really not. And she just, like she said, how are we going to enact change and take care of other people and other people's issues when we can't even take care of our own? Yeah, so I just think that this place should be put on here because it highlights all of these issues from, you know, women dealing with having to look in the mirror and see how flat their stomach should be and the political messages of the play and just how it directly tells the stories of people within this community. And I just want to put into perspective the percentage of the population. So 70% of Hispanic Latino population in Los Angeles are of Mexican heritage, according to a 2022 census. And it estimates that 9% are Salvadoran, 6% are Guatemalan, 3% South African, and 1% Honduran. And the rest were Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, and other Central American. But this is just such a huge percent of people that live here. So having something that represents them, and it just displays such an important message of why it should be produced here. Also, if producers are so concerned about having to, like, cater to this audience and how it's just such a minority, well, interestingly enough, the largest amount of people who go to the theater are Latinos. According to this article written by Stephen Morris, the LA Theater Patron Attitudes and Ethnicities by Stage Raw, the total makeup of people who go to the theater are predominantly white, but around 15% are people of color, and of those, 9% are Latinos. So if there were more productions that represented us, represented them, and addressed their issues, I believe that the community would go to the theater a lot more. Like, you know, I love to see, you know, basic plays, but I think I would rather go when I know this story is going to be told about me, about my heritage, about my culture, and I feel like everyone else would, too. Some of the patrons were quoted saying, the quality of the work lessened in intimate theater, but nobody seems willing to differentiate. They're too busy cheerleading other quality issues. Another quote said, I find myself being less receptive to straight plays, revivals, or family dramas because of the lack of diversity. So again, I can only reiterate that this play should be put on here in this community. The last thing that I just want to talk about, which is pretty huge, is representation. So there are a lot, I mean, a lot of reasons why representation matters, but just some quick points. So there's a fantastic scholarly article titled Representation in American Theater, the Chicanx Community's Fight to Express Social and Political Inequalities, and it just details the importance of representation. I think everyone should read it, and it's just a tool to call to attention the political issues, and it uses a lot of humor and human stories, and the author is Claudia Wagner, and she's quoted saying, promoting the work of these playwrights would create a more realistic understanding of Mexicans living in the United States. So again, just telling more stories of people, of Mexican people, and of Latino people just helps everybody develop a lot more empathy for one another. And I think also just having something represent you is just so important. I think, again, I would go to the theater a lot more if I knew that stories of my heritage and culture were being told. And she also just mentioned the lack of irony that these plays aren't being put on, even though the predominant demographic is Latinos here in L.A. And she also just talked about how back in the days of Luis Valdez, he was a farm worker. She quoted him as being the godfather of Chicano theater, and she said that he would work to inspire others to participate in sociopolitical protests, and him and other workers were performing in a theater called Teatro Campesino, which is still active today. And just basically they would get together, farm workers, and talk about their frustrations of poor working conditions. And so even all the way back then, theater was used as a tool to highlight issues within the community and call upon them. There's a lot more that I can talk about, but I want to just end with some of my own personal thoughts. So people don't always know what other people are going through, and perception is just that. It's perception. We can only assume we understand what a person is going through based on what we see. And for those who are of the same ethnicity, if these stories aren't told, they can feel very lonely. We can feel that nobody understands us, that nobody knows what we're going through, nobody cares, or can relate. So if this play was put on here locally, then it just reaffirms that we are here. We are seen, and we do matter. And yeah, representation matters for more reasons than one.