“Real Women Have Curves" at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre -- September 24 through October 4. (photo by AJV Original)
Thursday, September 24, through Sunday, October 4
Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL
Lauded by The Theater Mirror as "a beautiful, moving, spirited show that examines the bonds of family, community, and sisterhood," author Josefina Lopez's exuberant stage dramedy Real Women Have Curves enjoys a September 24 through October 4 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this heartwarming coming-of-age saga also a story of love, family, and empowerment that became a 2002 movie hit for breakout star America Ferrera.
Real Women Have Curves takes place in a sewing factory in East Los Angeles, where a group of five Latina women work, laugh, gossip, and hide from immigration. Estela is the owner of the factory and is the only one who hasn’t received her green card. She works with her mother, Carmen, her sister, Ana, and her employees Rosali and Pancha. We see the women through the point of view of Ana, who has recently graduated from high school and is waiting for a year to apply for scholarships to New York University so she can become a famous writer. She also tries to get the other women to stand up for themselves, learn to say no, and embrace their bodies and their curves. As the women desperately try to make a deadline for 100 dresses, they discuss love and relationships, body image, and what it means to be a Latina woman in the United States, creating a stage experience that any woman, family, or American can relate to and love.
Directing and co-starring in Real Women Have Curves is Cindy Ramos, a Playcrafters veteran who previously helmed The Game's Afoot and appeared in such productions as Lend Me a Tenor, Bingo! The Winning Musical, and this past summer's The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Kathy Graham serves as the play's assistant director, with additional members of Ramos' creative team including: stage manager Jo Forgie; lighting designer Giovanni Macias; sound designer Juniper Eberhardt; set designer and builder Craig Cohoon; and set painter and poster designer Jacque Cohoon. And completing the Real Women Have Curves ensemble alongside Ramos are a quartet of area talents: Adriana Bianco, Cristina Gomez, Linda Gomez, and Celeaciya Olivera.
Real Women Have Curves runs at Moline's Barn Theatre September 24 through October 4, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (no show on Saturday, September 26), Sundays at 3 p.m. and the Thursday, September 24 opening night at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $16-18, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 and visiting Playcrafters.com.
