With the high-octane and poignant The Trouble with My Name, Javier Ávila sheds light on what it means to be a diverse citizen in this changing political climate. The FREE one-man show about the Puerto Rican experience in the U.S. will take place tonight at 7:30pm at Lake Nona High School and it is presented by Ávila and Misión Boricua. It will be performed for free as “a gift for the Puerto Rican community in Central Florida” so don’t miss this show.
The 65-minute performance draws on the arts, education and entertainment to deliver a powerful message about who we are as a society. Through his poetry, autobiography and humor, Ávila examines the complexities of identity as a cultural construction: from his earliest notions of identity in his native Puerto Rico to his eventual identity re-assignment as an adult living in the mainland.
Ávila is the first Latino to be named Pennsylvania’s Professor of the Year and the event is being described as a moving and hilarious performance.
Audiences attribute the success of the show to Ávila’s ability to bring people together. “People of all ages and from all walks of life leave the performance with the feeling that our best days are ahead of us,” the event’s release said. “It isa tour-de-force that makes audiences laugh, cry, and embrace the journey of a man who moves between cultures to provide a fascinating perspective of American Latinos who struggle to dispel misconceptions about their place in the world.”
The show examines the issues of language, race and social justice in an eye-opening performance with a message that transcends boundaries of color, ethnicity and geography: “Education is the antidote to bigotry.”
The show will take place at Lake Nona High School’s Performance Center. For more information, click here or to register click here.
