Betty Marin: TellMeNovela

August 20, August 27 & September 3, 2016

TellMeNovela was a bilingual and participatory outdoor screening series of a popular Latin American soap opera or telenovela. Audiences screened three episodes over three events that were followed by discussions and theatre activities. 

The incredible popularity of telenovelas both throughout the world and with immigrants and other audiences in the U.S. makes them a special source for debate, conversation, and learning. Despite the melodrama that keeps audiences watching day in and day out, they have also proven to be a venue for exploring serious social issues. 

TellMeNovela invited participants to think critically about popular culture and their relationships to each other and their city through dialogue, theatre activities with strangers, and neighbors. First, the audience experienced fun and entertaining soap opera, then, through facilitated activities they examined how the stories from the telenovela applied or didn’t apply to their own lives. Participants then proposed alternative solutions to the problems presented. 

BIO

Betty Marín is an artist, educator, and social justice worker from Wilmington, CA. Her work centers on creating educational spaces that encourage dialogue and solidarity between different communities. She is currently based in her home city of Los Angeles, where she’s exploring the theory and practice of popular education through puppet theatre, community oral history projects, organizing tenants, and a participatory screening series of telenovelas.