Las Manas Tres, Maya Chinchilla, Cruz Grimaldo and Milta Ortiz, hybrid poetas bringing the fierce flava, heating the heart and melting the mind from the Bay to L.A. These storytellers are cultural warriors, of Guatemalan, Salvadorian and Mexican descent, paying homage to their ancestors by creating performances that serve to purge their communities of our collective traumas with the firm belief that tears, love and laughter builds bridges and transforms.
They use testimony to embrace radical love and break through social norms while reclaiming their space, redefining their roles and inspiring a new generation of performers and artists.
Fierce, phenomenal, committed to craft and audience, Las Manas Tres is socially revolutionary and avant-garde. Some of their influences include Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Cherrie Moraga, Gloria Anzaldua, Martin Espada, Roque Dalton, Rumi, Ntozake Shange, Anna Deavere Smith, Sandra Cisneros, Pedro Pietri, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, Silvio Rodriguez, Zora Neale Hurston, Alfred Arteaga, June Jordan, Emily Dickinson,Virginia Woolf, Jessica Hagedorn, Toni Morrison, Edward Said, and Daisy Zamora among others.
Las Manas Tres has shared the stage with such luminaries as Lorna Dee Cervantes, Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, Violeta Luna, Mamacoatl, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Aya de Leon, Luis Rodriguez, Brwn Bflo, Head Rush, Leticia Hernandez-Linares, Teatro Luna, Mujeres de Maiz and Teatro Campesino.
They have performed at the Hip Hop Theater Festival, UC Berkeley, Hecho en Califas Festival, La Peña Cultural Center, Saint Mary’s College, Los Medanos College, Teatro Vision, YBCA, Galeria de la Raza, Brava Theater, USF, University of Illinois, Self Help Graphics, CASA 0101 and hope to come to a barrio or ivory tower near you.
Selected Performance History
Saint Mary’s College 2004
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Oct. 2004
Featured Artists- Lunada Literary Series, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Hip Hop Theater Festival-La Brava Theater, San Francisco
May 2005
w/Teatro Luna- University of San Francisco
Aug. 2005
Hecho en Califas Festival La Peña- Berkeley
2004-2005
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
April 2006
CARE Leadership Conference, San Jose New City Hall
San Jose, CA March 2007
Latino Alumni Scholarship Fundraiser- UC Berkeley Chicano Latino Alumni Association
March 2007
Guerilla Theater-Bay Street Emeryville, California
April 2007
Scatter My Red Underwear
MACLA-San Jose, Malonga Casquelord-Oakland, La Peña-Berkeley
May 26 ,June 2 ,September 9, 2007
LA BOMBA: Benefit for Galería de la Raza at BLUE SKY STUDIO
San Francisco, California
July 21,2007
Pinta tu Propio Mundo, Galeria de Raza, San Francisco,
with Lorna Dee Cervantes Opal Palmer Adisa, Mamacoatl, Las Manas, Maceo Cabrera, Leticia Hernandez-Linares
08/10/2007
ALARMA! Picturing Immigration, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, California
with Eric Aviles, Maya Chinchilla, Milta Ortiz, Gerardo Perez, Marc David Pinate, Yadira de la Riva and Nicolas Valdez Directed by Sara Shelton Mann
08/25-26/2007
Church of Poetry: Speak Easy, Oakland, California
02/16/2008
Studio 17, Oakland
02/23/2008
Somos Medicina, Self Help Graphics
Los Angles, California 03/08/2008
Floricanto, with Lorna Dee Cervantes
UC Berkeley 03/13/2008
Art as a Form of Resistance with Aya de Leon, Celia Rodriguez
March 2008
Youth Roots Fundraiser La Peña
Berkeley 04/03/2008
QPOC Summit UC Berkeley
Berkeley 04/26/2008
Hip Hop Theater Festival @La Peña
Berkeley 05/16/2008
I just discovered you on Twitter. Thanks for retweeting my Real Simple tweet. I love what you ladies are doing and would love to interview you for Sisterhood, the Blog Radio. I will send an email soon with dates and times. Many blessings. Paz y luz, Ananda
PS: Sisterhood, the Blog – http://sisterhoodtheblog.wordpress.com