Free staged reading in Spanish of "La niña de cera" Sept. 17

Playwright Maritza Nuñez

Miracle is pleased to announce a free staged reading in Spanish of La niña de cera (The Wax Child) by Peruvian playwright Maritza Nuñez. The reading features actress Bibiana Lorenzo (last seen onstage at Miracle in Lorca's Bodas de sangre) under the direction of Verónika Nuñez, who was the assistant director of Miracle's recent award-winning production of Boleros for the Disenchanted. The staged reading, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 17 at the Milagro Theatre (525 SE Stark St., Portland). No advance reservations necessary.

La niña de cera is an engrossing monologue in two acts about the life of the Nobel prize-winning poet from Chile, Gabriela Mistral.  The title comes from a poem included in a collection of her children's poems entitled Ternura (Tenderness).  The play takes place a few days before her death and includes not only selections of Mistral's own poetry, but also dialogues between Mistral and two of the most important and influential people in her life; her mother and Romelio Ureta, a railroad worker with whom she supposedly had an affair.

Playwright Maritza Núñez was born in Lima, Peru in 1958.  She obtained her Master of Arts from the Gnesin Musical Institute in Moscow in 1986.  She has carried out studies in theatre at the Finland School of Theatre and the University of Helsinki. Maritza Núñez has published books of poems, Pentegramas ebrios (1986), Calidoscopo Op.I (1987), Passio Seculares (1988, 1998), Creatura (1998), and Kampopo (1999).  She has also published Jeux (1990), La pieza de teatro Niña de cera (1995) and the monologue A la luz de la oscuridad (1999).  In addition she has published plays for children, Chiqchinpo (1988) and El Libro de los Reyes (1992); musical theatre Creatura (1993), and Sueños de una tarde dominical (1999) for which she won the María Teresa Leon prize in Madrid, Spain. Amor Vivus  (Living Love) (1999), Nocturno (Nocturne) (2000), and Le Jardin Secret (The Secret Garden) (2001), are her latest collections of poems. Jeux y otros cuentos (Games and other Stories) is her latest work of short stories of poetic prose. She has also written three librettos for opera and numerous texts of songs and choral works.  Some of her works have been translated to Finnish, Swedish, English and Japanese.  Her dramatic works have been mounted in several countries at various international festivals. Her latest works are three musicals. She has lived in Helsinki, Finland since 1986.