AUNT LEAF / TIA HOJA

Saturday, November 14 at 8p ET (performed in English)
Saturday, November 21 at 8p ET (performed in Spanish)
Sunday, November 22 at 7p ET (performed in English)

A special, re-staged live virtual performance of AOH’s 2018 production.

Download the digital program here!

by Barbara Wiechmann
directed by Jeffrey Mousseau
with Indira Pensado

A tale from the dark woods of the Hudson River Valley and the darker woods of the imagination.

Presented in collaboration with Plan B Estudio-Teatro, Torreón, Mexico.

For adults and mature kids, ages 9 and up.

Inspired by American and Mexican folklore and a haunting Mary Oliver poem, Aunt Leaf features Mexican theatre artist Indira Pensado telling a spine-tingling ghost story. Reimagined for a virtual setting, performances of Aunt Leaf will be offered in English or Spanish.

It’s 1910. Annabelle, a quiet 11-year-old and her lonely great-aunt Leaf develop a secret ritual of storytelling. Each night the old woman sends the child into the woods to look for her husband. Each night the girl brings back stories—made-up "proof" of her deceased uncle—to cheer up the old woman. Annabelle's fibs grow into stories, and her stories grow into tall tales. As she wanders deeper into the forest each night, she comes to believe her own stories are true. 

“Aunt Leaf offers all the pleasurable frissons of a late-night ghost story.” The New York Times

Widely known as a performer, director and teacher, INDIRA PENSADO is based in Mexico City where she founded Medula Teatro and Los 4 Gatos, both groups dedicated to making innovative theatrical productions. She is acclaimed for her powerful use of voice and body on the stage and has performed in Peru, Argentina, Denmark, Buenos Aires, Stockholm and the US. She teaches at the National School of Theater in Mexico City, the Intercultural Theater Institute in Singapore, is a member of VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association) and a founding member of Linklater Voice in Orkney, Scotland. 

PLAN B ESTUDIO-TEATRO (producing partner) is an independent theatre located in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico. It is a place for the teaching and practice of performing arts and the development of theater in our region, called “La Laguna.”  Plan B belongs to an association of public places--restaurants, bars and stores--that are not only dedicated to serving the people in our city, but also to contributing to a nonviolent culture.