Written by Carmen Aguirre
Performed by Romina Miranda
Directed by Lina de Guevara

Chile Con Carne, written by Carmen Aguirre, takes an uncompromising look at a Chilean refugee family seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl, Manuelita.

Written in 1995; the play premiered at Station Street Arts Centre in the same year, dramaturged and directed by Governor General Award-winning theatre artist Guillermo Verdecchia. The play has since travelled to “Chileans in Canada”, an art exhibit in Santiago, Chile, to an international festival in Barcelona, Spain, to Venezuela, and to The Vancouver International Children’s Festival, Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary, and Four Devils Productions in Toronto. The show has been remounted twice in Vancouver, at The Firehall Arts Centre and Havana Theatre.

Romina Miranda

Manuelita’s story touches everyone – in the specificity of the story there are universal truths. Immigrants and refugees from Vietnam, El Salvador, Russia, the former Yugoslavia, and the Middle East alike, approach Aguirre after performances, thanking her for telling their story. “When I wrote the play, I knew it would speak to the Latino community in Vancouver,” Aguirre muses. “I did not foresee it being a hit with immigrants from all over the world … I am elated the story is no longer mine, that it belongs to everybody who watches it, and sees themselves in it.”

Production of Chile Con Carne as part of the Meli Festival (March 2007):

Cast & Crew

Performed by: Romina Miranda
Voices: Lina de Guevara, Kelo Mena, Enrique Rivas, Madeleine Sarrat
Written by: Carmen Aguirre
Directed by: Lina de Guevara
Soundscape: Enrique Rivas
Lighting & Projections Design: William Mackwood
Stage Manager: Rebecca Mulvihill
Staging Consultant: Barbara Poggemiller
Producer: Marianne van der Meij

Video excerpt filmed by Teri Petz during the Meli Festival