First Person: Elia Arce, First Woman on the Moon (Houston, TX, USA)

First Woman on the Moon by Elia Arce, was presented by DiverseWorks at Frenetic Theater on November 30 and December 1, 2012. This remounting of Arce’s seminal performance was timed with a 25 year retrospective of her career and the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.

The performance has historical significance due to giving a unique perspective to the Latino identity movement. The perspective Arce presents is of issues of class and spirituality rather than race and ethnicity.

For the multi-media performance, Arce lead the audience through various places, sounds, emotions and sights offering glimpses into the core of her identity. Various settings were projected onto a large screen in the background. An additional element came into play with Arce bringing a camera around with her which she focuses on herself while performing thus offering a different viewing angle along with additional details which are seen on a mounted screen. It was almost as if selected pieces of her life are flashing before our eyes.

First Woman on the Moon, performed by Elia Arce, with DiverseWorks at Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation Blvd, Houston, Texas. For more information about Elia Arce, please visit: www.eliaarce.com