ALBUQUERQUE – Albuquerque’s favorite Latina theatre troupe, Las Megananas (The Big Girls), is bringing a revival of its outstanding original production Río de Lágrimas / River of Tears to the National Hispanic Cultural Center for a limited engagement. It opens on Friday, June 29 and plays Friday and Saturday evening at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm in the Wells Fargo Auditorium.

This trilingual (Nahuatl, English, and Spanish) multimedia performance piece, written by Soledad Marjón Hindi and scored by Vivian Fernandez, is based on the legend of La Llorona, the Wailing Woman. The piece begins in Mexico with La Malinche, Hernán Cortés' estranged lover and the first mother of the mestizo race, whose despair over their broken relationship and the death of her children transforms her into La Llorona, roaming the Río Grande crying for the lost souls of her mestizo children. Her journey north to the Southwest ends at the U.S./Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, where, as the archetype of a grieving mother, she mourns the mistreatment, disappearance, and death of thousands of maquiladora, or factory, workers along the border.

Improvisational interludes with cello, guitar, cajón, concertina, finger harp, percussion, and songs are interwoven with the storyline. This combination of powerful subject matter and intensely beautiful music takes the audience on an emotionally charged and truly exceptional journey. Note: This production is not suitable for children under 13; attendance is at parents' discretion.

Tickets for these performances are $15 and may be purchased at the NHCC Box Office (505) 724-4771 or on line at www.nhccnm.org.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Hispanic art and culture at the local, state, national, and international levels.