Teatro Paraguas, in conjunction with Friends of Santa Fe Public Library, will present a bilingual performance of traditional cuentos (folktales) at each of the Santa Fe Public Library branches April 15 and 16, 2016.

JoJo Sena de Tarnoff directs a cast of high school and middle school students in La Suerte o el Dinero?, a tale about a poor miller who struggles to support his family, and two wealthy gentlemen who disagree on whether it is luck of money that makes a man successful. The gentlemen give the miller a small fortune as an experiment to see if they can settle their argument.  The script is based on an oral story first collected in northern New Mexico by Juan B. Rael, and subsequently rewritten by Rudolfo Anaya and  José Griego y Maestas.

Also on the bill is Una para ti, una para mi, a classic tale with many different versions about two village drunks, two boys, and St. Peter and the Devil.

The student actors include Armando Hernandez, Desaili Gomez, Victoria Alarcon, Amaya Smith, Maya Sanchez, Emiliano Alarcon, and Gabriel Alarcon.  Argos MacCallum, a co-founder of Teatro Paraguas, serves as the narrator. JoJo Sena de Tarnoff  provides live guitar music, and sings a number of classic New Mexican songs as well.

Teatro Paraguas has performed  many times at the Public Library Branches, presenting cuentos such as The Day it

Snowed Tortillas, Encaje y Espuma, The Tales of Coyote, and Grandpa Lolo’s Navajo Saddle Blanket, a story by renowned Santa Fe historian Nasario Garcia.

The schedule of performances is as follows:

Friday, April 15, 4:00 p.m. at the La Farge Branch Library, 1730 Llano St

Saturday, April 16, 11:00 a.m. at the Main Library, 145 Washington St.

Saturday, April 16, 2:30 p.m. at the Southside Branch Library, 6599 Jaguar Avenue