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Overview
Synopsis
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 is a “modern woman” and 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. Even though many arguments and tension, they come together through their work and shared experience and end up successfully completing their task, getting Estela her green card, and becoming closer than ever before. Real Women Have Curves is as relevant today as it was thirty years ago and mixes real, scary issues with joy and laughter. It creates an experience that any woman, family, or American can relate to and enjoy.
Show Information
- Book
- Josefina Lopez
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 1990
- Genres
- Dark Comedy
- Time & Place
- A Sewing Factory in East Los Angeles, 1987
- Cast Size
- small
- Licensor
- Dramatic Publishing Co.
- Ideal For
- All-Female Cast, College/University, Community Theatre, Diverse Cast, High School, Regional Theatre, Includes Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult Characters, Small Cast
Context
Growing up in East Los Angeles as an immigrant from Mexico, Josefina Lopez was undocumented for 13 years before receiving Amnesty in 1987 and eventually becoming a U.S. citizen in 1995. The threat of La Migra (I.C.E.) loomed over Josefina, her family, and her neighbors all through her childhood, and these experiences inspired her to write Real Women Have Curves. Before going to college, Lopez worked in a garment factory, and so the setting of the play comes from that time in her life. _Real
to read the context for Real Women Have Curves and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Act 1, Scene 1
It’s Monday, September 7th, 1987. At 7 a.m., Ana and her mother Carmen enter the small sewing factory they work at in East Los Angeles and start to prepare for the day. We find out that the factory is owned by Ana’s sister, Estela, and Carmen tries to send Ana off to get some breakfast at the bakery. Ana, who would rather be anywhere than working at 7 in the morning, tells her mother she wants to sleep and doesn’t want any bread. Carmen decides to go herself and is grateful
to read the plot for Real Women Have Curves and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
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Lead |
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Supporting |
Female |
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Supporting |
Female |
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Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
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