Milk of Amnesia / Leche de Amnesia
Carmelita Tropicana. Milk of Amnesia / Leche de Amnesia, 1994.
Description:
"Milk of Amnesia / Leche de Amnesia" Written by Carmelita Tropicana and directed by Ela Troyano. Solo Monologue with slides. Premiered at Performance Space 122 in 1994. Photo Credit: Dona Ann McAdams.
Proust ate a Madeleine cookie and his childhood memories came rushing back; Carmelita ate a pork sandwich and she fell into a CUMMA – a collective unconscious memory appropriation attack.
"Milk of Amnesia" blends the persona of Carmelita with the more personal voice of her creator, who describes the hardships of growing up a transplanted child: “I was born on an island. I came here when I was seven. I didn’t like it here at first. I had to change, acquire a taste for peanut butter and jelly. It was hard. I liked tuna fish and jelly.”
Chon Noriega in his editor’s introduction to the book "I, Carmelita Tropicana – Performing Between Cultures" writes about performance:
“…with 'Milk of Amnesia' Troyano has added her own autobiographical voice to her performance. Even so she turns from the personal to the political—in large part by subtly submerging Carmelita and Alina in the closing lines to call for an end to the blockade. More to the point Troyano makes her appeal on the basis of a unity rooted in colonialism which is to say, othering -- rather than humanism.”
Medium:
Performance
Tags:
Ela Troyano, childhood, Latina, Cuba, memory, persona, exile, autobiography
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