Latinidad & Bilingual Themes

Glass Half Full Theatre originated in Paris, France, as a multi-lingual theater company featuring actors from Europe and South America speaking French, English, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Greek. After relocating to Austin, Texas, our focus has shifted to bilingual (Spanish/ English) work that reflects the composition of our current company members. The shows below feature Spanish-speaking Latino characters from Austin, Laredo, the Rio Grande Valley, Mexico, Central America, and beyond.

Don Quixote de La Redo spotlights the hallmarks of Glass Half Full Theatre’s Lecoq-based approach to performance: wry humor and inventive use of actor as scenery and puppeteer as character, with Beckett-esque use of physical language and shifts in scale between tiny puppets, human actors, and large-scale puppets. The show explores the modern realities and imagined consequences of life in the borderlands between two cultures whose fortunes have shifted.

El Cucuy features undocumented siblings living in Texas in the apartment of their twenty-something tía. In the midst of sweeping ICE raids, the older brother, Yoyo, draws on the Latino tradition of telling terrifying stories to children to illicit good behavior. Teenaged Yoyo employs these Cucuy/ Llorona/ Lechuza stories to train his 12 year old sister Xiomara how to avoid being intercepted by immigration agents of ICE.

Climate Connections/ Walkabout Refugee Puppets is an ongoing project by Glass Half Full Theatre to create walkabout performances featuring climate refugee stories. Representing people from all over the globe whose lives have been affected by climate change, these puppet characters interact with people on the street to create instant, private theatrical moments in order to broaden participants understanding of the human impacts of Climate Change.

Cenicienta: A Bilingual Cinderella Story tackles culture, heritage, and the power of language. Belinda is a modern Mexican-American girl who dreams of becoming a poet like her hero Gary Soto. Ignored by her stepfamily and left alone in the basement to prepare for the party upstairs, Belinda uses her imagination and considerable sense of self to re-enact the story of Cinderella through Object Theater (puppetry with everyday objects). She makes discoveries about her own capacity and self-worth as a person, artist, and member of her familia.

Las Aventuras de Enoughie features two bilingual kids named Esme and Hector, and one magical creature named Enoughie. Together, they take an incredible to journey to figure out who they are and how they belong. Along the way, they learn the power of kindness and how to embrace the differences in all of us.

“Cenicienta accomplishes what children’s theatre should at its best: providing an imaginative tale that’s captivating for children and adults alike, while incorporating cultural and educational facets that pique curiosity and invite further investigation. . . . The production is rife with Spanish phrases, but not so many so that non-speakers would find themselves confused. It perfectly embraces Austin’s Mexican-American culture but also provides an educational outlet for those looking to brush up on their Spanish. . . . The story itself is as entertaining as it is educational. “

"The show is also a very timely (and extremely effective) political commentary. Devised by the cast and stage management during a collaborative and improvisational rehearsal process, Don Quixote de La Redo began as a retelling of the Quixote legend set along the Mexico-Texas border, but took a different and darker turn after the 2016 presidential election, after our current president announced plans to build a giant wall along our country's southern border. As serious as the subject matter could be, the entire play crackles with humor – humor of all kinds, everything from literary references to dry wit to a good old-fashioned diarrhea joke. Another impressive layer in this colossal script is that it's heavily bilingual, yet written clearly enough for anyone to understand, even if sus españoles son malos."