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On March 3, 2022, Las Lloronas, a hyper‐realistic theatrical show written by Miguel Maspons, a Miami‐born lawyer and third‐generation funeral home owner, will premiere at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center, the new cultural venue built at the entrance of Tropical Park, 7930 SW 40 Street, in Miami.
Las Lloronas is a hyper‐realistic and impactful immersive theater production that introduces the audience to the historical practice of professional mourners and how it was utilized in a fictional Cuban funeral home in the 1950’s and later in Miami, Florida. By utilizing drama and dark humor, the play will show how the practice of hiring professional mourners began as a noble profession designed to assist grieving families and how one llorona distorted the practice into a money‐making, criminal enterprise that resorted to extortion and worse.
Las Lloronas also will follow the story of the Perez family from the founding of their family funeral business in Havana, Cuba in the 1950’s, the loss of the business to the Communist regime, their immigration into the United States in the early 1960’s and the restarting of their funeral home in Miami. The play will also show the growth of the business, the introduction of a new generation of family members into the business and the assimilation and partial acculturation of the family and the Cuban community while still struggling to maintain their Cuban customs, culture and traditions.
The audience, who will play an active part in the play, will be introduced to Little Havana, the epicenter of the Cuban exile experience built on strong Cuban coffee, Cuban food, Cuban music and Cuban work ethic and business sense. The play will emphasize the importance and sanctity of family values.
“Although Las Lloronas is a work of fiction and it is not an autobiographical show, I definitely relied on many of my memories as a child, growing up around and in a funeral home, which included many of my experiences with my grandfather, whose family founded the business in Havana, Cuba, and my great‐grandparents and their fight for the Cuban exile community,” the writer and executive producer said. “We also highlight the importance of the family unit in the Cuban exile community,” Maspons added.
The cast is headed by prominent Cuban actors Zully Montero, Lili Renteria, Armando Tomey, Mauricio Renteria, and Hector Medina along with Catherine Nuñez, Fabian Brando, Jorge Melo, Laura Aleman, Boris Roa, Ana Collado, Ariadna Gonzalez, Agostina Alarcon, Paloma Piedrahita, Yelus Ballestas and Isairis Rodriguez.
The show is directed by José Eduardo Pardo, a renowned director, actor and acting coach for more than 30 years. Mr. Pardo has written more than 100 plays and directed more than 80 productions.
“Las Lloronas has become a great theatrical challenge, written in 26 scenes and in multiple settings and covering several generations. We conceived and produced what we believe will be a dynamic montage, which I will have the honor and pleasure of directing with an amazing cast from the Miami theater community.”
The General Producer is Miguel Ferro, a distinguished theater and entertainment professional, who joined the project from its inception and was intimately involved in the development of the script.
“Everyone has contributed to recreating the history of a fictional Cuban family, from the founding of their family funeral home business in Havana in the 1950s, its subsequent loss when it was expropriated by the communist regime and its reestablishment in Miami, in the early 1960s”, Ferro commented.
The Artistic Directors are Jorge Noa and Pedro Balmaseda, from Nobarte.
Las Lloronas is a wild ride through a harrowing time in Cuban and South Floridan history. A saga of family values, nostalgia, crime and corruption, brotherhood and betrayal, power and survival.
WHAT: Theater play titled Las Lloronas
WHEN: Opening night will be Thursday, March 3, with shows on Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 6 pm running for three weeks through Sunday, March 20.
WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center ‐ Tropical Park ‐ 7930 SW 40th Street Miami, FL 33155 INSTAGRAM: @LasLloronasMiami
