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La Gringa
Comedy / 3m, 3f / Areas La Gringa es la búsqueda de identidad de una joven de origen puertorriqueño nacida en los Estados Unidos. María Elena decide visitar a su familia borinqueña durante las navidades y llega a Puerto Rico con gran ilusión de conectarse con ellos y con la madre patria. Aunque es su primer viaje a Puerto Rico, ella siempre ha tenido un gran amor por la isla y hasta ha estudiado la historia del país en la Universidad. Sin embargo a su llegada se da cuenta de que la isla
84 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 13, 2024
the English version is not on goodreads and that’s the one i read ahhh.
honestly made me very sad and very happy all at once.
but i can see it maybe being too much of a wrapped bow for people.
honestly made me very sad and very happy all at once.
but i can see it maybe being too much of a wrapped bow for people.
February 13, 2025
Basic Plot: A young woman visits Puerto Rico for the first time, hoping to connect with her family and where they came from.
Heritage is a funny thing. In America, we are (nearly) all immigrants and many of us proudly declare our heritage and our pride in it without ever having been to the place our ancestors came from or speaking a single word of the native language. My dad's family immigrated from Poland at the beginning of the 20th century and aggressively assimilated, dropping the language and customs, and only a few food customs remain. There is part of me that would love to visit Poland, see the landmarks, experience the culture, try new foods. There is another part that is terrified that I would hate it there, that I wouldn't know enough to avoid embarrassing myself (I do *not* speak the language), and that I would end up hating the whole trip.
This play made me think about all of that internal conflict we Americans have about our culture. The main character is stuck between being Puerto Rican and being American. It has to be hard to be considered Puerto Rican in America and American in Puerto Rico. She is both and neither at the same time. Part of a family and yet separate. Add in human issues and relationships and you have the recipe for some very solid drama. The play had a lot of good acting opportunities in it and managed to include some creative bits while still being very firmly grounded in realism. It made me think, but had enough heart that I enjoyed it for its own story, too. I predicted the ending very early in the play, but I think that is what the author intended the audience to do.
Heritage is a funny thing. In America, we are (nearly) all immigrants and many of us proudly declare our heritage and our pride in it without ever having been to the place our ancestors came from or speaking a single word of the native language. My dad's family immigrated from Poland at the beginning of the 20th century and aggressively assimilated, dropping the language and customs, and only a few food customs remain. There is part of me that would love to visit Poland, see the landmarks, experience the culture, try new foods. There is another part that is terrified that I would hate it there, that I wouldn't know enough to avoid embarrassing myself (I do *not* speak the language), and that I would end up hating the whole trip.
This play made me think about all of that internal conflict we Americans have about our culture. The main character is stuck between being Puerto Rican and being American. It has to be hard to be considered Puerto Rican in America and American in Puerto Rico. She is both and neither at the same time. Part of a family and yet separate. Add in human issues and relationships and you have the recipe for some very solid drama. The play had a lot of good acting opportunities in it and managed to include some creative bits while still being very firmly grounded in realism. It made me think, but had enough heart that I enjoyed it for its own story, too. I predicted the ending very early in the play, but I think that is what the author intended the audience to do.
February 23, 2026
I am not Puerto Rican, so I’m not sure how much my experience is similar to Maria’s, but I can relate heavily to being so desperate to visiting my family’s homeland and only ever feeling more lost once I finally do. I think we ended up finding peace in ourselves differently, but I still enjoyed much of what I read. My more contemporary take on this is I think there’s a lot of emphasis in today’s society in choosing “this or that” when maybe the truth lies within both.
November 2, 2022
read for class
March 16, 2023
kind of all over the place but slay ig
August 12, 2023
I saw a Spanglish version of the play on stage tonight. This should no doubt be the definitive version. It fits perfectly with the story line.
October 8, 2024
read this if you wanna sob your eyes out
February 16, 2026
so sweetness
March 20, 2018
2.5 stars.
I really wanted to love this play. Main idea is great, characters have potential. Too much exposition and skipping through moments. Scenes/dialogue felt under-developed or missing.
There are a couple of strong moments/scenes for scene work, but not enough to balance out the play as a whole.
Several times, an interesting event in the past is summarized. The play is so connected between Now and the past, it would have been cool to play with characters in both eras. The main character, Maria, could have doubled as her mother Olga, as others remark frequently how alike they look. The other characters could have played as the young and old versions of themselves.
I really wanted to love this play. Main idea is great, characters have potential. Too much exposition and skipping through moments. Scenes/dialogue felt under-developed or missing.
There are a couple of strong moments/scenes for scene work, but not enough to balance out the play as a whole.
Several times, an interesting event in the past is summarized. The play is so connected between Now and the past, it would have been cool to play with characters in both eras. The main character, Maria, could have doubled as her mother Olga, as others remark frequently how alike they look. The other characters could have played as the young and old versions of themselves.
November 5, 2016
Besides honing my Spanish skills, this was a nice little play demonstrating the struggles of being raised in a different country from your heritage yet also being rejected by your own family and country. I could somewhat relate to Maria's struggles with her cultural identity. The character development was strong and the relationships between said characters were good as well. However, I'm taking off two stars because of the bad ending and Iris being a whiny stuck up bitch. And yeah the play did have a nice central theme, but it was too...idk, cheesy? Personally not my kind of read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews