Literature to Life adapts Erika L. Sánchez’s YA novel as their newest title in their Signature Performance series. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter takes place in modern day Chicago. The novel focuses on the idea of finding one’s own identity, and breaking free from societal, cultural, and familial expectations. The story follows Julia Reyes, a Chicago high school student, as she navigates trials and tribulations of following her dreams of becoming a writer, alongside the death of her sister, Olga—who might not have been quite as perfect as she seemed.

Literature to Life (LTL) is a performance-based literacy organization that presents professionally staged verbatim adaptations of American literary classics. Each performance features one actor portraying all of the characters in the novel.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter was co-produced in partnership with Freedom Reads, the only organization in the nation transforming the experience of incarceration by opening libraries in prison housing facilities.

Trigger warning: The novel addresses mature themes including suicide and sexual assault. Suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death for young people ages 10-14 and the 3^rd leading cause of death for young people ages 15-18 according to the National Institute of Mental Health. One in 9 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault and females ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). We see the performing arts as a powerful way to open up a dialogue about issues like these that may otherwise go unspoken.

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Runtime: 90 minutes with talk back

Recommended grade levels: 9-Adult

Curricular Connections: ELA, Theatre, Bilingual, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Showtimes at 10AM and 12:30PM