Wrestle with Hispanic Heritage in Tallahassee
By Ben Gunter
Come to Tallahassee on September 21-23, when Theater with a Mission brings you three days of free family fun, wrestling with Hispanic Heritage.
On Thursday, September 21, you can see the play Loco for Love: Cervantes v. Shakespeare in the Cliffhanger Wedding. This audience-participation thriller calls Cervantes and Shakespeare back from the dead to go head-to-head about how to tell a telenovela – the breathtaking story of Fernando trying to steal the bride Luscinda from his best friend Cardenio. You get to boo the villain, cheer the hero, and vote on who wins the title of World Champion Storyteller. The evening starts with wine and cheese and Spanish guitar music by Charles Santiago, at Mission San Luis in the Visitor Center, 6 p.m.
Friday, September 22, kicks off a two-day fiesta in Railroad Square. From 5 to 9 p.m., you can taste and touch treasures from Florida’s Spanish past, as caterers serve their finest tapas, musicians sing love-crazy songs, comedians poke fun at Shakespeare, and Theater with a Mission revives a farce from 1658 called El muerto, or Better Wed than Dead, with another performance of Loco for Love.
On Saturday, September 23, the Fiesta in Railroad Square runs all day. From 9 a.m. till 9 p.m., you can step into the world of Spanish La Florida and explore your Hispanic roots with food trucks serving arepas and empanadas, heritage dancers performing pre-Columbian and Spanish bailes, musicians playing instruments that Cervantes knew, and experts demonstrating on Spanish swordplay. “That Klassic Tag-Team,” two professional wrestlers from Orlando, will show you how combat in Cervantes’ day resembles fighting mano-a-mano today. Theater with a Mission will present a 25-minute comedy by Cervantes, El retablo de las maravillas, Where Only the Pure See Miracles, and the Fiesta ends with Loco for Love.
Don’t miss it! Visit www.theaterwithamission.com for more information, and catch all three, free days of wrestling with Hispanic Heritage in Tallahassee this September 21-23.
