This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news

Area Group Brings La Pastorela to Campus Again

Teatro Chirmol, a bilingual theater group central to Eastern Mennonite University, recently presented once again the Christmas play "the Pastorela," with a cast including area high school students, EMU students and bilingual community members.

"The Pastorela" is the traditional Mexican Christmas nativity play that tells the story of a group of shepherds visited by angels. The angels tell the shepherds about the birth of the Christ Child and ask them to take the journey to Bethlehem. They embark on to their journey, but on the way they face many struggles and obstacles.

Teatro Chirmol, in its third to year, "seeks to give authentic voice to the the Latino community, integrate Latino youth with university students and provide community education about the assets and challenges of living biculturally in the Shenandoah Valley," according to play directors Silvia Romero and Quintana Marks.

The troupe’s name, Teatro Chirmol (a salsa in Guatemala), describes the flavor of the group that meets every Saturday morning in the old gym at EMU - homemade and a blend of various cultures. The actors, mostly high schoolers, are from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and the United States.

This article reprinted with permission from www.nuevasraices.com.

— posted December 16, 2005