Mildred's Umbrella Comes Back Live In November With EL HURACAN

Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company launches their 2021-2022 LIVE season with the Houston premier of EL HURACÁN, by Cuban-American playwright, Charise Castro Smith. Directed by award-winning Cuban-American actor/director, Patricia Duran, the play will feature a Latinx cast and crew, and will be the first live performance for Mildred's Umbrella since the pandemic shut our doors in March 2020. The production will be at the DeLuxe Theatre, in the Fifth Ward, and will run November 11-21, 2021.

El Huracán honors four generations of Cuban-American women who navigate life's tempests together. Valeria drifts as dementia floods her mind. Ximena sinks as unforgiveness surges inside her. Miranda wades through the torrential mistakes of her past. And Val searches through the rubble to piece together her identity. Their family may be adrift in time and history, but they are bolstered by their memories and magic, and their eternal connection to each other.

"Like all theatres, it's been a while since we've done a production", says Artistic Director, Jennifer Decker, "We wanted to choose a play that really fits our mission to support women in theatre, makes an impact with Houston audiences, but without adding to the trauma that everyone is still feeling about the last year. This is a play of finding what can be rebuilt after tragedy; of redemption and hope after trauma."

From director, Patricia Duran, "I am thrilled to return to the director's chair for Mildred's Umbrella after thirteen years. El Huracán is the third play by Charise Castro Smith that we have produced and yet again she doesn't disappoint with her beautiful, lyrical language and complex roles for women of all ages. In many ways this play is personal for me, having grown up in a Cuban home and witnessing firsthand the effects of exile on a family. Although this is not a 'political play,' I believe its messages of hope and forgiveness are timely in light of the ongoing unrest in Cuba. But it's the universal heart of the play that truly speaks to me: how a broken family can mend old wounds to stand together through the storms in life."

To post a comment, you must register and login.