Dos Cuentos para la Primavera

JoJo Sena de Tarnoff directs a cast ranging in age from 5 to 83 in El día que nevó tortillas (The Day it Snowed Tortillas) and El cuento de la culebra ingrata (The Story of the Ungrateful Snake). Between the cuentos JoJo, accompanied by Karmela Gonzales, will perform favorite traditional songs, such as Cielito lindo.

The Day it Snowed Tortillas is a tale made popular by Santa Fe’s well-known storyteller Joe Hayes about a clever woman who saves her dim-witted husband from the wrath of a gang of robbers. According to Hayes, the tale originated in Russia, and has universal appeal.

The Ungrateful Snake is about a snake who believes the old proverb that if you do a good deed, something bad will happen to you in return. It takes a burro, a chicken, a coyote, a campesino and his wife, and a couple of dogs, and a number of chase scenes to convince her otherwise.

Teatro Paraguas performs the cuentos as well as traditional music at the Santa Fe Public Libraries with the following schedule:

Santa Fe Downtown Branch ( 145 Washington Ave.) Friday, April 19 at 4:00 pm

La Farge Branch ( 1730 Llano St.) Saturday, April 20 at 10:30 pm

Southside branch ( 6599 Jaguar Drive) Saturday, April 20 at 4:30 pm

All Library performances are free and will take place in the respective Community Rooms. The performance lasts approximately one hour.

Teatro Paraguas will also perform Dos Cuentos para la primavera at Teatro Paraguas Studio (3205 Calle Marie) on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 28 at 2:00 pm. All performances are free, and donations are most welcome.

Karen Thibodeaux, Artistic Director of the Taos Children’s Theatre, joins Teatro Paraguas for the Saturday performance with a storyteller’s version of the cuento Lucy, Octaviano y la Luna. On Sunday, Taos Children’s Theatre will stage the same cuento with a full cast as part of the last performance of Dos Cuentos para la primavera.