Play about Immigration

Que’ Nochebuena, a play by Inez Martinez will be read at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier on Saturday, January 6, at 7 p.m.. Facilitator Sarah Franklin, says. “We are excited to present this nativity-play-with-a-twist because it speaks to the civility and empathy needed for inclusion in order to address immigration reform.” The Central Vermont Refugee Action Network will co-sponsor the reading along with the Social Responsibility Committee of the Unitarian Church. The reading is free.

Inez Martinez is a poet, novelist, essayist, CUNY Emerita Professor, Jungian scholar and native of New Mexico who lives now in Wilmington, Vermont.

Que’ Nochebuena (What a Christmas Eve) offers a poignant, contemporary version of family, community, and Christmas. Guatemalan immigrants, eighteen-year-old Carlos and his pregnant younger sister, Felicia, seek refuge in a Mexican-American community in northern New Mexico. There they encounter the elderly Corazon, caught in grieving the loss of her son in war, and her grandchild Adela, soul-searching over why God would come to earth as a boy rather than as a girl. Carlos and Felicia are pursued by Bob, an Immigration agent intent on deporting them, and Kim, a refugee Vietnamese medical aide, intent on creating a different ending than her own for Felicia. All the characters’ unexpectedly finding each other on Christmas Eve brings renewed soul to the meaning of America and renewed depth to the meaning of Christmas.

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Dec 30, 2024, 11 AM to 12 PM