Nuestras Historias

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Latino Oral Histories Will Become Monologues

December | 2016

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Thanks to grants from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, we will be transforming the Latino oral histories into theatrical monologues.


Beginning in February 2017, RILA will organize and facilitate four bilingual pláticas. Those attending the pláticas will review the existing oral history collection and help us select between 5-6 stories that will become monologues. RILA has pre-selected two stories to begin the dialogue: The story of The Rosario Family, who opened Fefa’s Market in the late 1950s and those of Cuban Rhode Islanders who formed the first Cuban Club of RI in the late 1960s and 70s.

Mark Valdez, Latino writer/director from Los Angeles and Rebecca Noon of Trinity Repertory Theater will co-facilitate workshops on how to create, write and perform the monologues. We are looking for Latino theater majors, college students or bilingual actors who would like to participate in the workshops.

As part of this project, Rhode Island Latino Arts will offer oral history and bilingual storytelling workshops in partnership with the Rhode Island Black Storytellers (RIBS).

As an introduction to best practices of storytelling, a bilingual workshop will be held at the Rhode Island Black Storyteller’s 2017 FundaFest. The workshop is open to Latino individuals interested in learning the art of storytelling from Cuban storyteller, Leeny Del Seamonds of Boston. You do not have to speak fluent Spanish to participate, but the workshop will be provided in a culturally-appropriate and bilingual format. The free workshop will be held on Saturday, January 21, 2017 10:30am -12:00pm at the Southside Cultural Center, 393 Broad St. Providence, RI 02907. You must register to participate.

Valerie Tutson of RIBS will assist with the storytelling workshops and oral historian and RILA Executive Director Marta V. Martínez will provide oral history workshops.

For more information and to participate, contact Marta V. Martínez. Click here to register.

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When using materials from this website, please acknowledge by stating the name of the URL of the webpage on which it is displayed. Citations should include full bibliographic information as follows: Courtesy of the Latino Oral History Project of Rhode Island, Central Falls, RI.

© All Rights Reserved | Nuestras Raíces: Latino History of RI



© All Rights Reserved | Nuestras Raíces: Latino History of RI © | When using materials from this website, please acknowledge by stating the name of the URL of the webpage on which it is displayed. Citations should include full bibliographic information as follows: Courtesy of the Latino Oral History Project of Rhode Island, Central Falls, RI.