MLK Photo Story: Tafolla gives multi-character theatrical performance

Writer Carmen Tafolla portrays three characters of her own creation during ‘With Our Very Own Names: A Dramatic Presentation by Carmen Tafolla.’ The Martin Luther King Jr. Day program, sponsored by University Library, the School of Information and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, offered the audience dramatic monologues that addressed diversity, acceptance and daily struggles. Each ‘voice’ in Tafolla’s one-woman performance presented a different perspective on American life.

From left to right, Tafolla portrays an elderly Latino woman who does not fit society’s expectations for how she should act; a first-grader whose exuberance for school quickly diminishes after she is chastised because she behaves differently and has an accent; and a courageous Mexican American war veteran.

Tafolla is the author of four books of poetry, including Sonnets to Human Beings and Other Selected Works; seven television screenplays; a book on racism, sexism and Chicana women; and numerous short stories, articles and children’s books. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Austin College and her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.

Photos by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services