Written by Mira Brock I sit across from Dia Rueda in Joe’s Coffee on 23rd Street. We drink Earl Grey tea and share a vegan scone. Rueda, at 38, is a confident, curly-haired beauty. She beams across the table at me, her smile accentuated by bright pink lipstick. Dia Rueda grew up in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. She describes her childhood as being stuck in a “golden cage.” Rueda’s parents did not allow her to play with other children...
Written by Khatia Mikadze “Homesickness is like any sickness, it will pass.” Or so says a pastor to a young immigrant woman from Ireland in Brooklyn, a newly released romantic drama based on Colm Tóibín’s novel that’s directed by John Crowley. It tells the story of a young girl who immigrates from a small Irish town to New York City in the 1950s and settles in Brooklyn, a hub for Irish immigrants at the time. The main character, Eilis Lacey,...
Written by Khatia Mikadze Two weeks ago I saw a performance of “Elvira: The Immigration Play” at the charming Teatro LATEA in the Lower East Side, as part of the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival. Art has always been a powerful, transformative tool to challenge public discourse and stereotypes, and this play is another reaffirmation of how art can impart both emotions and meanings. The play Elvira challenges anti-immigration opinions, and especially the belief that there is nothing...