Professor's bilingual one-act play performed this month at Miami theater

Since she was in high school, Dr. Dolores Flores-Silva, a Spanish professor at Roanoke College, has enjoyed theater and writing her own plays. One of her most recent plays has received notable attention.

Her one-act play, "La Mision," is a winner of a competition at the Micro Theater Miami. It will be performed this month at the Florida theater. While reading a Mexican newspaper in October 2013 about the disappearance of young girls, likely related to sex-trafficking crimes, something struck a chord with Flores-Silva and within a matter of hours, she wrote "La Mision." 

"La Mision" is a monologue about the disappearance of a male, though it was inspired by the issue of young girls disappearing. 

Flores-Silva said she created "La Mision" to be poetic but also political, in order to bring awareness to the issues occurring in Mexico. The monologue is bilingual (English and Spanish), and it is performed in a way that the audience can understand what happens on stage without knowing both languages. She put this play aside for some time, but Dr. Melanie Alemeder, an English professor at Roanoke, encouraged her to enter "La Mision" in this year's Micro Theater competition, which called for short theatrical works with the theme "Plays on verse." Along with five other plays, "La Mision" was chosen as a winner. It is performed every Thursday from 8 to 11 p.m. this month. "La Mision" is directed and performed by Juanita Castro, a Columbian director and actress. 

The passion Flores-Silva has for theater began early in her life. She took theater courses while growing up in Mexico, and she acted, directed and wrote plays during graduate school in the United States. When she came to Roanoke, she directed the College's first bilingual play, "She/Ella," by Dolores Prida, a Cuban-American playwright. Prida introduced Flores-Silva to the importance of bilingual theater, which now is one of her passions.

Last spring, several Roanoke College students performed Flores-Silva's bilingual plays, including "La Mision," during the March Women's Forum events at Olin Theater. 

Flores-Silva said she believes that theater and literature in general are ways for students to practice the five necessary skills to learn a language, which are reading, writing, speaking, listening and culture. Theater and literature also help students learn about specific countries.

"My passion for theater has found a purpose here at Roanoke College through teaching with the idea of bilingual importance," she said.

Published April 23, 2015

-By Gabby Gery '17