In Tía Talk, two Latinas, Karen and Amelia, try to prove their Latinidad to themselves and the audience by embodying every stereotype they have been fed by the media, their peers, and even their families. By using the structure of a talk show, they invite the audience to participate in their exploration of identity by building interactive segments, offering advice, and posing unanswerable questions (e.g. how can we acknowledge the inherent racism and settler-colonial status quo of pan-Latinoism while also holding joy and pride in our heritage?). Additionally the performers unabashedly experience joy and pride of their own culture, delving into reggaeton, food and hoops. Drawing from their own unique experiences, as well as the influence of Latiné icons such as Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Shakira, and Walter Mercado, Karen and Amelia explore issues of identity, including body image, fetishization and assimilation, and attempt to make sense of their place in the world. While they do not find a concrete or simple answer (how could anyone?), they do find connection with each other, and acceptance of the fact that identity is a journey, not a destination.
Created & Performed by Amelia Bethel & Karen Loewy Movilla
AMELIA BETHEL is a theatre artist whose work confronts the performance of identity and the materiality of the body, with a focus on sexuality and the mixed-race experience. Her original work has been presented at the San Francisco Olympians Festival, Chicago Women’s Funny Fest, and elsewhere across the country. She can be heard as Marisol on the award-winning podcast Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery from HartLife Studios. Amelia is a former associate artist in residence with poet Tracie Morris and playwright Sibyl Kempson at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and received her MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College.
KAREN LOEWY MOVILLA is a Colombian artist based in New York City. She converges digital forms with crafted objects, like a giant fabric Uterus, to tackle myths and untruths placed on femininity, such as the concept of girlhood, dismissal of pain, and gender as biological. Her work celebrates hyper femme aesthetics, female and trans biology, and maligned attributes of “womanhood”. Karen has directed new works, and has been part of ensemble work Mini-SuperNova, and 3D-Woman Human. She is a Boston University and a 2021 MFA graduate at Sarah Lawrence College.
