'Quiero Volver'
The Community College Public Humanities Center at Holyoke Community College presents "Quiero Volver," a staged reading of an original Mexican opera Friday, at 7 p.m. in HCC's Leslie Phillips Theater.
The event is billed as a "multimedia performance in honor of women, non-binary, and genderqueer people of color." It features original music, scripts and documentary video by vocalist and guitarist Diana Alvarez.
Alvarez previously performed at HCC in "Latinas con Pluma," a musical and theatrical production of dramatic readings created by HCC theater professor Patricia Sandoval, who serves as artistic director for "Quiero Volver."
From the artist:
"Quiero Volver: A Xicanx Ritual Opera" is a 60-minute multimedia performance in honor of women, non-binary, and genderqueer people of color consciousness and art-making. This performance features original music, poetry, and documentary video by Diana Alvarez.
Rituals and recitations by a small performance ensemble will interweave Alvarez' songs with video documentary portraits of women and genderqueer artists of color. These portraits are part of Alvarez' PhD dissertation research, Bridge Artistx: Women and Genderqueer Artists of Color at the Forefront of Innovative Arts Practice.
Xicanx curanderismo, Deep Listening Practice (as taught by Pauline Oliveros), and themes of death, motherlessness, political consciousness, and building community/family underpin the rituals embarked on within this piece.
Alvarez is currently a PhD student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Quiero Volver is her dissertation research/performance project.
More information about the artist is available at www.diana-alvarez.com/quierovolver
The performance is sponsored by the Community College Public Humanities Center at HCC, with grant support from Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, along with Northampton Community Television and the School of Humanities at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
