From left, Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez, Iris López, María E. Pérez y González, Nelson Diaz-Marcano
On Saturday, May 4, following the 2:00 PM matinee performance of LAS BORINQUEÑAS, the powerful new drama by Nelson Diaz-Marcano, everyone is encouraged to stay for a talkback discussion about the cultural, historical, and scientific background of the play.
Set in the 1950s in Puerto Rico, LAS BORINQUEÑAS tells the stories of María, Fernanda, Yolanda, Rosa, and Chavela, all fighting to live full lives in a changing country with crushing societal rules for women. Into their lives comes the American scientist Dr. Gregory Pincus, trying to find test subjects for a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of the first birth control pill, an invention that could give women everywhere freedom. This is a story about medical innovation and the women who risked everything for the chance to live. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and join the discussion.
The author of LAS BORINQUEÑAS, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, will moderate the discussion with Latino Studies writer/scholar Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez, and sociologists Iris López and María E. Pérez y González.
LAS BORINQUEÑAS is the 2024 mainstage production of the EST/Sloan Project, EST’s partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop new plays “exploring the world of science and technology,” an initiative now in its twenty-fifth year.
About the Panelists
Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez
Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez is an Afro-Puerto Rican writer, teacher, and scholar from Hoboken, NJ. She is Professor of Africana, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at CUNY Hunter and is the Directora of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO). She is author of the award-winning book Decolonizing Diasporas: Radical Mappings of Afro-Atlantic Literature (Northwestern University Press, 2020; translation, Editora Educación Emergente, 2023), and the forthcoming book, The Survival of a People (under contract with Duke University Press). Dr. Figueroa-Vásquez was a Duke University Mellon SITPA Fellow, a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, and a Cornell University Society for the Humanities Fellow. She is the PI and co-director of the 2022-2024 Andrew W. Mellon funded “Diaspora Solidarities Lab,” a $2M Higher Learning project focused on Black feminist digital humanities initiatives that support solidarity work in Black and Ethnic Studies.
Iris López
Iris López is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Program in Latin American and Latin@ Studies at City College of New York, a program she has directed for several terms beginning in 1999. Previously, Dr. López has chaired the Sociology Department (2013-2016), the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Committee (2005-2008), and she was Director of the Women’s Studies Program (1996-1999). She is the author of Matters of Choice: Puerto Rican Women’s Struggle for Reproductive Freedom (Rutgers University Press, 2008). Her book Telling To Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios, co-authored with the Latina Feminist Group, won the 2002 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. Her research and publications on the Puerto Rican Diaspora in Hawai’i and on sterilization abuse of Puerto Rican women has highlighted crucial connections to globalization, reproductive freedom, and social justice. As an invited speaker and panelist at numerous U.S.-based and international conferences, Dr. López continues to present critical work and speak about her areas of expertise in Latino/ education, gender issues, pre-natal care, and sterilization abuse.
María E. Pérez y González
María E. Pérez y González, Ph.D. (Sociology, Fordham University, National Institute of Mental Health Fellow), is a first-generation Puerto Rican born in Brooklyn, NY, and a first-generation college graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Having taught for over 32 years, she is a Professor in the Department of Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY, with 17 years as Chairperson. Having recently served as Interim Dean of the School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts, she is the Co-Director of the María E. Sánchez Center for Latinx Studies. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has completed the Harvard Management Development Program and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Leadership Academy: Executive Leadership in Higher Education. Her research includes DiaspoRicans, Latinxs, women in ministry, and Pentecostals; she is the author of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. (Greenwood Press 2000) and co-editor of Puerto Rican Studies in the City University of New York: The First 50 Years (Centro Press 2021).
About the Moderator
Nelson Diaz-Marcano
Nelson Diaz-Marcano is a Puerto Rican NYC-based theater maker, advocate, and community leader whose mission is to create work that challenges and builds community. His play, LAS BORINQUEÑAS, is the 2024 EST/Sloan Mainstage Production in April 2024. He currently serves as the Literary Director for the Latinx Playwright Circle where he has helped develop over 100 plays in the past three years. His plays have been developed by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Road Theatre Company, Pipeline Theatre Company, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, Vision Latino Theater Company, The Orchard Project, The William Inge Theatre Festival, Classical Theatre of Harlem, and The Parsnip Ship, among others. Recent credits include: World Classic (Bishop Theatre Arts Center), Y Tu Abuela, Where is She? Part 1 (CLATA), When the Earth Moves, We Dance (Clubbed Thumb, Teatro Vivo), The Diplomats (Random Acts Chicago), Paper Towels (INTAR), Misfit, America (Hunter Theatre Company), I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja (Conch Shell Productions), and Revolt! (Vision Latino Theatre Company).
LAS BORINQUEÑAS began previews on April 3 and runs through May 5 at EST. You can purchase tickets here.
