Topic > Cherrie's play "The Hungry Woman": summary, history and analysis

IndexBasic InformationArtistStage (Time)AudienceBasic InformationCherrie Moraga is a Chicanx writer, feminist activist, poser, essayist and playwright. She too has written about the struggles of lesbianism and Chicanx experiences in the United States. As a woman of color, she challenged systematic interpretations of genius through her plays and created characters with powerful personalities with the goal of giving visibility to the real-life experiences of Chicanx. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Hungry Woman was written by Cherrie in 1951. The work is written in a Chicano style in which both English and Spanish ( Spanglish ) languages ​​are incorporated. The play was commissioned by the Berkeley Repertory Theater where it received a stage reading on April 10, 1995. It was directed by Tony Kelly. Since the opera became so popular, it was later performed in many different places, such as; on December 2, 1995 the show was produced in Los Angeles, California, as part of the Mark Taper Forum's New Work Festival, and was directed by Lisa Wolpe. On May 21, 1999, the play was directed by Richard E. T. White as part of the A Contemporary Theatre/Hedgebrook Writers' Retreat Women's Playwright Festival in Seattle. Their performance was very popular in America (Mexican theater) for a Spanish and Spanglish speaking people. Performer The Hungry Woman consists of a total of eight characters in which the writer specified that all her characters were to be played by a woman with the exception of Medea's son. The show itself consists of 4 main characters who portray the entire story to the audience. The main characters are: Medea, midwife and curandera in her forties, Luna, Medea's lover for seven years; stonemason and clay sculptor, late 1930s. Chac-Mool, Medea's thirteen-year-old son and Mama Sal, Medea's elderly grandmother, in her late seventies. There are also four other characters who also played other roles in the play. Savannah, Luna's girlfriend, the nurse, Medea's elderly caretaker in the mental hospital, Jason, Medea's husband and Chac-Mool's father, and the border guard also play the prison guard and the tattoo artist. All these characters are also part of the chorus of four warrior women who, according to Aztec myth, died in childbirth. Phase (Time) The play is divided into two main acts and each act contains its own scenes. Act One, contains a total of ten scenes. The places represented where the first act takes place are; a hospital (patient room), an interrogation room, a game room, a building in the city, a small urban garden, a laundry room in their apartment building, and a local bar. In this act there were also special places where the story took place. For example; the altar of Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess of creation and destruction, and Luna and ChaC-Mool appear in Medea's memory sitting on a stone slab. the second act has a total of nine scenes and an epilogue. the locations for the second act are similar to those of the previous act, except for some extra locations that did not appear in the first act. The locations for the second act were; the hospital, the apartment building, the border, the interrogation room, a kitchen, a living room, the recovery room and the small corn field. There are special occasions when Medea has a flashback to her roots and suddenly the stage transforms into the Aztec years. Audience The purpose of the show is for the audience to relate to Medea's torment over her custody battle over her son, which is affirming her desireto become a man. The show also reminds the audience of the world of betrayal, jealousy, love and lust where the main character tries to explain to the audience all the struggles and conflicts that a single mom faces every day to support her child. All the performances in the show were so powerful that audience members developed an emotional attachment to the characters. The show also appropriately elicited gasps, screams, and laughter from the audience that reflected Medea's emotional turmoil. since the show is too long, the audience will remain seated during the show, but will have an intermission for the other half of the show. The audience will have the opportunity to relax and get some fresh air before the second part of the show begins. In The Hungry Woman, there are many interruptions where he lets the audience know the transition from one place to another. The stasis of the work begins with the story of the Aztecs in which the Aztecs offer sacrifices and rituals to their god. the show starts like this because it tells the audience a little history of Chicano culture, so the audience can get an idea of ​​what the show will be about. Throughout the story, instead of letting the audience read the direction of each transition, a particular character always interrupts a scene to let the audience know what is happening and what will happen next. The character signals to the audience the end and beginning of each joke. Throughout the show there are also Aztec scenarios that recreate everything that happens in Medea's life in their representation. Describe the characters in terms of their actions! What they do, their actions define them in the drama. The protagonist Medea is bisexual and female. She is Jason's ex-wife and Luna's lover. She is also a former revolutionary woman forced into exile and also the mother of his only son Cha-Mool. Jason is Medea's ex-husband, a biracial man who lives in Aztlan and abandoned Medea and her son for an important position offered to him in Aztlan. He wants Medea to sign the divorce papers so he can get married to a virgin Apache woman. Chac-Mool is Medea's son, although she preferred a girl instead of a boy. In the play he is very rebellious and confident. He wanted to go live with his father in Aztlan and he wanted to become a real man like his father. Later in the play he becomes a ghost and appears to his mother when she decides to kill herself. The boy's real name is Adolfo, but his mother named him Chac-Mool in honor of a Toltec messenger. Luna is a lesbian woman who in the play is Medea's girlfriend and also becomes the man of her best friend from the savannah. He taught Cha-Mool many things about life, history and heritage, and also taught him how to plant corn. Mama Sal is a lesbian grandmother. In the play he is described as the cynical king who, despite his love for his nephew Cha-Mool and Medea. helps Luna break up with Medea. Chihuateo are the four warriors who died in childbirth. These characters also played other important roles in the play. These four warriors are also the chorus of the opera. What happens that makes something else happen? What is the domino synopsis of the events in the show? In the play, Medea received a letter from her ex-husband Jason. In the letter Jason said that he would return to Medea to claim custody of his son. The letter alternated between her emotions leading her to come up with a crazy plan. Since the appearance of the letter everything has changed in Medea's life, her son betrays his mother for his father, his girlfriend Luna runs away from his life with another woman and everything he fought for has been destroyed. What seems to be the culmination? The climax in The Hungry Woman occurred when Medea saw Luna talking to Savana.”