Carmelita Tropicana

MILK OF AMNESIA

Written and performed by Carmelita Tropicana

Directed and dramaturged by Ela Troyano

Proust ate a cookie and his childhood memories came rushing back. Will Carmelita eat a yuca and be cured of her amnesia? Will she have to go back to her homeland, Cuba? And if she goes back, will she fall into a CUMA¹s --Collective Unconscious Memory Appropriation Attack? Find out in MILK OF AMNESIA a work that blends the persona of Carmelita with the more personal voice of her creator, Alina Troyano, who describes the hardships of growing up as a transplanted child: ³I was born on an island. I came here when I was seven. I didn¹t like it here at first. I had to change. Acquire a taste for peanut butter and jelly. It was hard I liked tuna fish and jelly...I used to play a game in bed about remembering. I¹d remember the way to my best friend¹s house...² MILK OF AMNESIA is a one woman travelogue that shifts from the U.S. to Cuba, from modern times to colonial times, from public persona to the private self, presenting an array of characters, some male (Pingalito Betancourt, a cigar chomping macho Cuban bus driver) some female (Carmelita Tropicana, a cross between Lucy and Desi) and some animal(Arriero, Hernan Cortez¹s horse).