←Recommendations of Mother's Milk

When your current land is no longer safe, what price will you pay to move elsewhere? A powerful piece that asks those difficult questions. Well done.

In this short piece Diaz-Marcano dives straight into the struggle of people who've lost their home, possibly forever, and how much they're willing to give for a new one. I found the twists and turns so painful, it made me think back to all the ways the rich and powerful have exploited those in need, and how that will continue to play out without any real support for the people who've had the misfortune to be born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When the land that bore you can no longer safely be your home-- when the land you must call home cannot guarantee your safety-- Diaz-Marcano's MOTHER'S MILK covers hard ground in this 10-minute piece. It shows us our not-so-distant past and the future we hope to have. Lovely language throughout, fleshed out characters that must make big choices that have hard consequences, and a plot that is unique to say the least. Nelson beautifully reminds us all that when we cannot return home we can still carry it with us.

Nelson DM's one-act 'Mother's Milk' is not part of his cycle of plays on Puerto Rico, (the setting is South Africa ), but it deals with similar themes - the struggle between choosing an imperfect homeland (ravaged by racism or storm) and the United States of America, between one's desires/dreams rooted in myth, culture, and history and one's survival (economic and physical). Using a bizarre setup (!), that reminds me of the worlds of Naomi Wallace, with a dramatic language all his own, Nelson DM's play further proves that he's a playwright that must be on every literary manager's radar.

Diaz-Marcano continues his investigation of the displaced, the exiled, the lost, the transient, and more forced to consider the possibility and ramifications of living in the United States; here, in his ten-minute period play 'Mother's Milk', with an effective metaphor for "manna from heaven," he extends himself to a young married couple of South Africans expecting a child. The choice they face is a timeless, surprising hard mix of past, present, and future, of politics, privacy, and family. It's like a beautiful, disorienting mix of Athol Fugard and Tony Kushner, replete with Diaz-Marcano's always dreamy, always divine style of dialogue.