The rocky relationship between a daughter and her Cuban revolutionary father is explored in the semi-autobiographical, one-woman show called “The Box,” a new work-in-progress as part of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities’s Process Series.
The show will be performed Friday and Saturday in Swain Hall.
Carmelita Tropicana, a New York-based performance artist, playwright and actress, uses the relationship with her father — who fought in Castro’s Cuban Revolution as a commandant before being forced to leave the nation — to analyze complex racial and social issues.
Tropicana said her main challenge with the piece was to talk about family and be personal, which differs from her usual work that is more about how the individual fits into the larger picture of the world.
“I’m writing more autobiographically, so there’s less Carmelita in it; there’s the writer’s voice and that’s scary because it’s very different,” she said. “Just me having to write about my father is hard because it’s so personal, and also, we didn’t have the greatest relationship. It’s not a biopic that’s so loving and wonderful.”
Tropicana said she hopes the work will make people think about their relationships and the idea of family. With a work in development, she said she can use the audience to find out if something in her piece works or creates connections.
“Some of it sticks and some of it doesn’t, and that’s important,” she said. “The most interesting things are when you have an audience that tells you what they saw that may not have been at all what you thought you were putting out, so it’s always very instructive. Those kinds of things I find really very important to creating the work.”
Joseph Megel, artistic director of the Process Series, said the series focuses on new work, and through a partnership with the UNC Teatro Latina/o Series, they look for Latina and Latino artists who are doing new work in all types of performance.
“The reason why I liked this project so much is the subject was intriguing,” he said. “It’s not only getting to see this internationally-known performance artist but to see what it means for her to create something new, which is what the Process Series is all about.”
