Botánica by Dolores Prida, Directed by Kivin Bauzo

Dolores Prida was a feminist and Hispanic dramatist whose central theme was the search for the identity of Latino/Hispanic immigrants, specifically women, in the United States.

She was known as the Cubarican. Born in Cuba but well versed in Puerto Rican culture, she learned in New York and wrote this play, La Botánica, with all Puerto Rican (Nuyorican) characters.

La Botánica explores cultural conflicts in East Harlem among an old Puerto Rican woman, her daughter, and her granddaughter, who has just graduated from an Ivy League university. The old woman, Doña Geno, runs a business dealing in herbs, spells, and spiritual powers. She and her daughter, Anamu, expect Anamu’s daughter, Milagros Castillo, to take over the shop, La Ceiba.

But, Milagros — who began calling herself Millie at college since, as she says, Miracles Castle isn’t a great name in English — plans to take up a career in a big bank downtown and forget about the barrio. But she has things to learn that the Ivy League doesn’t teach, and Doña Geno is just the professor she needs.