5:00 PM | This event is Public.
Carmelita
A Vindication for the Unwritten: Or How to Write Yourself Back into History
By Ana Maria Campoy
Carmelita Colon
Carmelita was born in Mexico. She and her husband Sebastian settled in Walla Walla in the 1860’s, several years before Susan B. Anthony and Abigail Scott Duniway toured the Pacific Northwest (including Walla Walla) in 1871. Carmelita and Sebastian ran a mule train to the gold mines in Idaho and later sold tamales while operating a restaurant in Walla Walla.
Suffrage Timeframe: Carmelita’s work and activism were quite early in the Northwest women’s rights/suffrage movement, years before women had — and lost — the vote twice in the 1880’s.
How do you break free from an assigned narrative? Meet Carmelita Colon, determined to do just that, challenging us to re-imagine what it means to reclaim our stories.
A tale of gold rushes, wars, outlaws, and tamale recipes
Historical fiction immerses you in one woman's treacherous and triumphant journey from 1860s Mexico to WA territory.
Meet the Artists
Antonieta Carpio, Featured Performer
Antonieta Carpio (Carmelita Colon) is a performer, musician, producer, designer, who continues to strive to provide spaces for Brown, Black and Queer inclusive narratives. Being part of so many stories in front and behind the table, she is grateful to be portraying courageous Carmelita who teaches us to move through the adventure. Thank you to Key City Public Theater and Ana Maria Campoy for the opportunity. Connect with Antonieta at esmeraldantonieta.com.
Ana Maria Campoy, Playwright
A Mexican American theatre artist, educator, and advocate, Ana Maria Campoy is based in Seattle and has worked at regional theaters throughout the U.S. as a writer, director, dramaturg, and actress. Ms. Campoy has adapted a number of classic and contemporary plays as Spanish/English productions performed nationally with bilingual BIPOC/PGM artists. Ms. Campoy currently is an Associate Artist with Seattle Shakespeare Theater where she advises on Community Engagement and EDI, participates in the SEE program, and is exploring the expansion of programming into other areas of WA State. Founder of the all-volunteer, mutual-aid collective, WashMasks, Campoy works with others to provide PPE, support, and advocacy for migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families in Washington state during COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbara CallandEr, historian
Barbara Callander, a Seattle-based humanities scholar and performing artist who has been researching and disseminating the history of women’s rights throughout the state of WA and the PNW for over 25 years in conjunction with the creation and presentation of lectures, dramatic biographical performances and other programs about suffrage in Washington, the Northwest, and beyond. Ms. Callander's numerous Humanities presentations over the last three decades have been awarded grants from Humanities Washington, the Washington State Historical Society and ArtsWA, among others.
