Mercedes Floresislas

A playwright is fast approaching a deadline for a play based on Eulalia Guzman, the first female Mexican Archeologist who also uncovered Cuauhtemoc's bones. The playwright's obsession with the role model she never had as a failed professor leads her into the mysoginistic, elitist, classist, pro-hispanic/ anti- indigeneity world that Professor Guzman faced. As the playwright obsesses over the historical figure, Eulalia obsessively advocates for the indigenous keepers of the story of Cuauhtemoc's remains.

Matt a young man on the spectrum must accept a roommate or he must return to live at home with his parents. He thinks he has found the perfect roommate, a Deaf man whose service dog might as well have been trained in hell.

A love triangle between a man, a girl and her Chihuahua comes to end.

Tamales De Puerco presents the story of Norma, a young mother who confronts her abusive husband and challenges a country that rejects and oppresses her as an undocumented immigrant. She overcomes the hardships of being Latina, undocumented, and having a Deaf child (Mauricio) without any support from her husband, her mother, and local and state institutions.

Norma wants to seek help but Reynaldo refuses to believe there is anything wrong with his son. Reynaldo is quite abusive toward Norma and their child and he resorts to violence to cope with the news.

Norma has had enough abuse and runs away with the baby. Norma pleads with her mother to take them in but she tells her to accept the abuse and go back to her husband. She ends up in a homeless shelter and the next morning she wanders into an AA meeting for deaf participants. There, she witnesses a heart wrenching story of a Deaf man and his relationship to his father.

Years pass and the baby, Mauricio, is now six years old. Mauricio and his mother now sign fluently with each other and they have formed a new family of sorts, Tana, a street wise corn vendor, Tomas a street musician who wants to conquer Norma’s heart, a tall order since her heart is on getting her green card. Their struggles as street vendors who must evade the police solidify their friendships.
Karla, an overachiever, Deaf social worker who must also deal with her self imposed limitations, tries to help Mauricio and reluctantly forms a deep connection with Norma and Tana. She also reconsiders her meaning of success.

When Reynaldo reappears in Norma’s and Mauricio’s life, Norma must reevaluate the price she wants to pay for her green card and her desire for a better life is tested. At the end the problem she must solve is how to get rid of her husband. The solution binds Norma, Tana and Karla into a pact of silence.

Carlos Moreno, a teenage Deaf boy whose mother functions as the family interpreter must make a connection with his non signing father when she is incarcerated. The separation forces Mrs. Moreno to acknowledge that she has handicapped Carlos and prevented Mr. Moreno from bonding with him. Carlos’ loneliness escalates and he turns to alcohol. Mr. Moreno is forced to overcome his pride to reveal the reason he’s been unable to learn sign language so they can build a relationship before it is too late.

Carolina Juarez, CJ, is a fifteen year old forced to live with her estranged aunt and Deaf grandmother when her mom OD’s. CJ is disconnected from her Latino heritage and is not interested in getting to know her family including her Deaf grandmother who has dementia. During a teenage tantrum, she destroys her grandmother’s childhood toy and the family’s comadre conjures up a recipe to intervene as CJ’s personal Nahual. She turns the remnants of the toy into a sinister version of La Mano Peluda, and gets two Aztec deities to take CJ into a journey a la Christmas Carol to give her a chance to change her life before is too late.