Seated at her favorite table at ‘La Taberna del Alabardero’ restaurant in Washington DC, it is with great relish that Gloria Rodriguez tells the story of her 5 minute interview with Ronald Reagan, a seminal moment in the hugely successful career of this pioneering figure in the world of national Hispanic media, communications and public affairs. It happened in Tampa in the mid 80’s on a trip the President was making to address the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In her inimitable and courageous manner she found herself waiting for the President to exit his limousine and then corralled him directly to ask for support for the National Puerto Rican Forum which had seen it’s federal funding drastically reduced, ironically enough, by his administration.

            I recently returned from a visit to Mexico City (CDMX) for the first time in over 40 years. I'd lived there for an extended period during my adolescence with my father, Jose 'Pepe' Sueiro. My father emigrated to the United States when he was a young man married, and later divorced, my mother whom he had known since childhood in the town of Pontevedra (Spain) where she was from. Born in the seaside village of Sanxenxo, he was a merchant marine when he arrived in New York City and ended up remaining in the country, based in the United States and Latin America for the rest of his life.

Washington, D.C. – GALA opens its 43rd season with the U.S. premiere of Como agua para chocolate/Like Water for Chocolate, adapted for the stage by Garbi Losada based on the internationally best-selling novel by Laura Esquivel. Directed by Olga Sánchez, Como agua para chocolate runs September 6 through October 7, 2018 at GALA Theatre, 3333 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20010. Parking is available at a discounted rate in the Giant garage on Park Road, NW.

Think the energy of West Side Story, the language of the Nuyorican poets with a pinch of Kafka and a twist of Joe Cuba and you get an idea of what the new play at GALA Theatre, "Dancing in my Cockroach Killers", is all about. Six young Puerto Ricans, mostly from the Bronx, dance, sing and recite poetry from the heart of the Boricua repertoire.