By Victoria Wilson
The Texas A&M University-San Antonio chapter of the Mexican American Student Association (MASA) debuted “The Panza Monologues” on Oct. 20 in the university auditorium.
The production consisted of eight solo performance pieces based on women’s stories about their panzas, or stomachs. Each performance piece was performed by a MASA member, giving members a chance to express themselves onstage.
Marissa Luna, a bilingual education major and a member of MASA, said this was the right performance to make her stage debut with something as meaningful as the Panza Monologues.
“I’ve always had body issues because I was always chubby and being judged, so being able to put those feelings into a play like this; I could really just be me,” Luna said. “This is sacred to us because we know how our own bodies feel and to be able to tell the story through someone else is empowering.”
The original stories for the play were written and put together by Virginia Grise and Irma Mayorga.
“The Panza Monologues boldly places the panza front and center as a symbol that reveals the lurking truths about women’s thoughts, lives, loves, abuses, and lived conditions,” according to the website.
Plans for the production started back in June when MASA faculty advisor and English professor Adrianna Santos, teamed with MASA vice president, Teresa Ruiz, to plan the production.
Santos said you can’t watch this show without feeling something.
“Especially if you’re from San Antonio,” she added. “It’s just so special and relevant to the community that people are moved by it, because we definitely are.”
Ruiz said the monologues help people understand San Antonio and its South Side culture by discussing daily contemporary issues people can relate to.
Ruiz’s mother, Teresa, was impressed with the performance. “I feel like the show will in fact help make some sort of impact on the people that came to see it. Especially for a school that is so cultural and so it’s really interesting to bring in Hispanic and Latino culture,” Ruiz said.
Kayla Garcia, MASA member and monologue performer said doing this performance gave her and her cast members a boost of body positivity.
“We all went in weary because we all had to wear the tight outfits; but doing the performance in front of an audience made me feel more confident after. It encouraged us to love ourselves a little more,” Garcia said.
Texas A&M-San Antonio President Cynthia Teniente-Matson thought Panza Monologues was a very inclusive production that she felt stayed true to the culture.
“It was a production that was true to the culture. It had humor, it had attention to health and women’s rights, domestic violence; just a whole range of contemporary issues in a very inclusive way,” Teniente-Matson said. “I loved it, I more than enjoyed it; I loved it.”
Kathryn Pearl, MASA president, hopes the performance starts a discussion about the importance of women’s health care and domestic violence, two topics she says can be too taboo to openly discuss.
“I hope as an academic campus we bring more shows like this to the school,” Pearl said. “It’s not only cultural awareness, it’s also very educational because there may be families going through the same issues and they don’t talk about it. Hopefully this will start conversation.”
