Too Many Tamales Returns This December to Carmen Zapata Theatre

Adapted by:   Margarita Galbán and Lina Montalvo from Gary Soto’s book, Too Many Tamales

Directed by:   Cecilia Garcia- Serrano

Presented by: Bilingual Foundation of the Arts

SYNOPSIS:

As the first Chicano ever to graduate with an MFA from a creative writing program, Gary Soto’s first book of poems attracted much attention from the literary world.  He would later go on to write literature for children and young adults, a body of work that includes Living Up the Street, Chato’s Kitchen, Baseball in April and in 1993 our beloved Too Many Tamales (Tamales).  This charming tale was brought to life visually by talented illustrator, Ed Martinez, whose enchanting illustrations are as warm and wonderful as the story itself.

The story is set at Christmastime and revolves around its central character, Maria, a little girl from a Hispanic family.  It is Christmas Eve, Maria and her mother are preparing tamales, a traditional dish served on Christmas Eve, for their family celebration that evening.  As Maria’s mom teaches her how to prepare the tamales, she takes off her beautiful ring that was given to her by her husband, fearing that it might fall off into the masa.  Maria admires the ring that her mom placed on the table, and in a moment of overwhelming temptation, and against her mother’s wishes she puts the ring on her finger.

Time passes, family members arrive, and Maria is busy playing with her cousins when suddenly she realizes that the ring is missing.  In a panic, she fears that somehow the ring did fall in the masa, and was cooked into the tamales!  She quickly enlists her cousins to eat all of the tamales until they find the ring.  After eating too many tamales, Maria discovers that the ring was on her mom’s finger the whole time.  Consequently, Maria and her cousins learn a very valuable lesson about listening and obeying their parents.  All is well that ends well, and the children go to the kitchen to make more tamales.  The play ends with an uplifting sing-a-long of Feliz Navidad.

Tamales addresses inter-cultural marriage – Hispanic/Anglo, cultural misperceptions, (tamales versus turkey), being bilingual (mom dreads having to speak English all night and to everyone’s surprise, the Anglo grandfather has learned some Spanish).  Through all of the differences, both families are united in their celebration of Christmas, love of family, facing everyday challenges raising children, and ever-changing traditions between generations.  In it seventh season, Tamales brings the community together, enjoying theatre and literature, and building an enduring tradition for thousands of children and families.