Written by Chloé Cofresí

La Hija del Pirata /The Pirate’s Daughter is a play about multi-generations of women who have descended from the Puerto-Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí. The story is creative non-fiction. Cofresí was the last famous pirate in the Caribbean, and the women in the play are based on real women who descended from his only surviving child, Maria Bernada. The play travels through time, from 1855-2016, when Maria and the final Cofresí in the storyline, Chloé, are both thirty years old. The conceit of the show is that the Pirate’s treasure, left for his daughter and her descendants, is the freedom and power of the Wild Divine Feminine.This is a play about the power of family stories: how they can be both missing links and chains that keep us bound. Our goal is for the audience to be an extension of the family they are watching, to be swept up in the magic of hearing these stories told, shift allegiances between characters, and feel like they have a vital part to play in telling the story. To do this, we are performing the play as an immersive experience at Flagship Brewery. As the audience sits on wooden benches surrounded by action we will invite them to partake in the story: joining an actress in buying a beer, listening to a secret, helping to create the sounds of a rushing ocean.We tackle major themes: religion, the wild divine feminine, female sexuality, and the discovery of play. With an entirely female cast, we aim to allude to the notion of the missing father and allow the audience to watch as he is replaced. All Cofresí’s female descendants seek the lost Pirate’s treasure. We watch as generations of women search for this treasure only to settle for false gold. To show this cycle, only four actresses will rotate through the five descendents. One actress will play all the grandmothers, one the middle-aged women, one the young woman, and one the teenagers.We aim to show that even when the cycle seems that it will go on forever, change is possible. For, it is the last Cofresí who is finally discovers the treasure: freedom and power of the Wild Feminine within herself. We aim to create hope that the audience can find their own treasures in their own stories, and untangle themselves from whatever familial chains they may have. We will be passing out programs at the end of the play and then inviting the audience to stay with actors to have a space to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and hopes.

La Pirata Productions together with Hemlock Theater Co.  present

La hija del pirata/The Pirate’s Daughter

Written by Chloé Cofresí

Directed by Juliana Kleist-Méndez

Featuring:

Jessica Carmona

Chloé Cofresí

Teresita Cuadrado

Julissa Torres

This play is made possible (in part) by a DCA Premier Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Tickets $30

Doors open @ 7pm

Show starts @ 8pm