["Batuka" by Tito Puente plays] [♪] - I really enjoyed school today, but I guess we have a lot of homework to do.

You know something, Laura?

I think the thing I like most about school is doing special class projects because everybody gets to work on them together.

- Yeah, me too.

Sometimes.

- Yeah, I'm glad the class chose to write a play and then to act it out on stage because we've never done that before.

Yeah... - But to write a play about the story of Cinderella, that's no big deal.

Well, we'll all have to participate to make it come out really well.

Oh, come on, Laura.

What's wrong with you?

- Listen, Delia, if we have to do a play, why do we have to do one that's so babyish?

- Well, because that's the story the class chose.

And the important thing is... to cooperate and to participate in everything.

Like the writing and acting, and the set designing, and the costuming, and everything!

I wanna play Cinderella, and I'm going to try out for the part.

- You must be kidding.

What do you want to do <i>that</i> for?

That's a kid's story.

- It's not just a kid's story.

It's a class project, Laura, and I like it.

Besides, it'll be interesting to study a character... and to try to become that character, like the teacher explained.

- Oh, you're becoming as silly as Cinderella.

- And you're becoming impossible.

You just refuse to understand.

I'm going to study that character, and I'm not going to make her look silly.

- You mean, you're actually going to waste your time on this?

I saw that movie a long time ago, and the whole thing is unreal.

- Listen... If that's the play we're going to do, I'd rather spend my time at softball practice and become the most valuable player on the team.

- Oh, Laura, you're impossible.

It's not that I don't like softball.

It's just that I like to do other things.

Different things.

Besides, the important thing is to participate, and I'm going to.

I like plays, and I think acting is a lot of fun.

And I think playing the part of Cinderella is going to be interesting, too.

- Well, maybe acting is all right.

But what's so interesting about doing a play about someone like Cinderella?

- Well, Cinderella was a young woman who had to face a very difficult problem, and deal with some terrible people.

And, I think that'll be interesting to play a part like that.

- Well, it's still a kid's story with all those mice running around and pumpkins turning into coaches.

It's nothing more-- - Oh, I used to think like that when I was a kid, but it can be more than that.

And I see the story different now.

- It's silly, mushy, and a bunch of kid stuff.

Well, you refuse to understand because you've closed your mind, and you haven't even been listening to what I've been saying.

- Well, if that's the way you feel, you'll just have to find someone else to talk to.

- That suits me just fine.

[phone dials] <i>[door closes]</i> Mami, I've decided to play Cinderella in the school play, and Laura's-- - Yes.

Delia, that's very nice, but uh-- can we talk about that later?

<i>[on the phone] Yes, I reached</i> <i>the wrong number by mistake.</i> <i>I'd like credit for that.</i> <i>Yes.</i> [gentle instrumental music] [♪] I would love to go to the ball fairy godmother, but I can't... because my stepmother says I can't go until I do all of my work, and I could never finish in time.

Besides... I have nothing to wear, and no transportation to get there.

Oh!

[phone hangs up] [door closes] Mami, ¿me dejas ir a la biblioteca?

Tengo mucho trabajo que hacer.

Sí... [door closes] Hi, everybody!

<i>DORIS: Hello.</i> Hey, Delia, I just saw Laura.

She wants you to call her.

She knows I'm not speaking to her.

Delia... ¿por qué ya no le hablas a Laura?

You see, mami, that's what I tried to tell you before.

See, our class is putting on a play about Cinderella, and I want to play the part of Cinderella.

So... She says that everything's just a waste of time-- the whole thing is a waste of time.

She called me silly for wanting to get involved.

So I'm not speaking to her.

...for a while.

Well, anyway, she said she wants you to call her right now!

Well, I can't call her right now because I'm going to a library.

I'll call her later.

And you have an assignment?

Well, you see, the class is going to put on a play about the story of Cinderella, <i>and the play is going to be written</i> and acted out on stage by the class.

So everything's being done by our class.

And the teacher said you have to try out for parts.

And in order to do that, you have to write a small scene on the character you're interested in playing.

Oh, ¿y tú tienes que escribir tu propia escena?

¡Qué chévere!

And she also said to write a good scene and to create a real character, you have to imagine <i>everything</i> about that character.

Oh.

Like, you have to imagine the way they look and move, and behave, and talk.

And to do that, you have to do research and get <i>all</i> the information you need.

Let's say, for example, if you want to play the part of the mean stepmother, or one of the mean step sisters, you would have to imagine the way they look or move or talk.

Even if you want to play one of the mice, <i>you have to observe</i> <i>and study how mice behave.</i> Ya veo.

Now, maybe... Delia, you should consider your choice of roles again.

You may never have another chance to play a mouse.

Mami.

[laughs] <i>Ay, mami.</i> I want to go to the library to learn everything about Cinderella.

So can I go?

I think it's a very good class project.

Okay, run along, but make sure you're back early.

Okay, goodbye.

<i>DORIS: Bye-bye.</i> Laura is right.

The whole thing is silly.

Oh, well, Ángel.

I just think Laura probably has her own ideas about what class project she'd like to do and about what play she'd like the class to perform.

But... I bet you she really does like the idea of the class creating something on their own and being able to watch your friends perform it.

Yeah... But it's a waste of time, pretending that you're someone that you really aren't, especially if it's a mouse.

<i>[chuckles]</i> Well, Ángel, you're right about that.

It's not good to pretend you're someone that you aren't.

But, in a play, you can put yourself in somebody else's position to see what it's like, and that can be very good.

You can learn a lot about people by trying to see through their eyes.

Remember Richard Hansen when he first moved into this neighborhood?

How hard it was for you to understand why he acted the way he did.

Well, when you put yourself in his position, and you thought about all the things that he'd been through, wasn't it easier for you to understand him then?

Sure it was.

And besides... Think of all the things that you learn about and experience.

Things that you'd never have the chance to do.

It could be a lot of fun.

Yeah.

But putting on Cinderella wouldn't be my idea for any class project.

Now, maybe a show about Bruce Lee.

[shouts] Hi-yah!

<i>DORIS: [laughs]</i> <i>ÁNGEL: [shouts]</i> [door shuts] - Oh... [gentle instrumental music] [♪] [♪] [♪] Oh, no.

She's a blonde.

I don't look anything like Cinderella.

They'll never pick me to play the part.

[♪] <i>TV: Tonight, belows in the 60s.</i> <i>Tomorrow, sunny and warm</i> <i>with the highs in the 80s.</i> <i>A chance of rain 20% tonight,</i> <i>10% for tomorrow,</i> <i>and tomorrow night.</i> <i>Presently, it's 68 degrees</i> <i>outside our studio.</i> <i>One group of state</i> <i>officials today approved...</i> Ángel.

Did you finish your homework?

Sí, mami.

<i>TV: and the State Gaming Commission</i> <i>later today is expected to be...</i> What about you, Delia?

Delia, tú hiciste tus asignaciones?

Sí.

Delia spent the whole afternoon at the library doing research.

¿De verdad?<i></i> <i>DORIS: Mm-hmm.</i> Y qué tú estabas investigando, Delia.

Just homework.

DORIS: La clase de Delia va a presentar la Cenicienta.

Y Delia fue a la biblioteca a buscar información para preparar una escena.

Que Delia quiere probarse para el papel de la Cenicienta, y tiene que escribir su propia escena, ¿qué les parece?

Eso me parece estupendo.

Imagínate, a mí que me encanta el teatro.

Y luego, si Delia es la actriz en esa obra, me va a gustar mucho más.

Luis, ¿te acuerdas cuando íbamos al Tapia allá en San Juan?

Sí... Claro que sí.

Los matinés en el teatro Tapia.

Eso no se me va a olvidar nunca, don Manuel.

Tenemos que llevar a Delia y a Ángel al Tapia, la próxima vez que vayamos a Puerto Rico.

Pues mira que eso es una buena idea, ¿sabe?

Estoy seguro que a ustedes dos les va a gustar mucho, muchísimo.

El teatro Tapia es un teatro antiguo, muy bonito.

El más antiguo de Puerto Rico, sí.

<i>It was uh...</i> designed by this Spanish architect... And it was named after Alejandro Tapia y Rivera.

That was the first great Puerto Rican playwright.

But over the years, the inside of the theater changed.

It changed a lot.

Now, they have reconstructed, right?

They have reconstructed the Tapia Theater.

I am told that it looks exactly the way it looked when it was first built.

De verdad, a mí me lo han dicho, ha quedado bien bonito, bien bonito.

You know what?

We have been very lucky in Puerto Rico.

Quiero decir, hemos tenido la suerte de haber gozado de una gran herencia teatral.

No solamente cuando los grandes autores españoles, sino que... aún hoy en día, nuestros grandes dramaturgos tienen esa-- esa chispa, esa variedad que es característica de nuestras artes.

<i>Y saben ustedes por qué es eso?</i> Precisamente porque las bellas artes son como un reflejo de... de lo que está viviendo un pueblo en diferentes épocas.

La pintura, la música, el teatro mismo, nos dicen el modo de pensar de un pueblo, lo que lo hace gozar, lo que lo hace reír, y lo que lo hace sufrir también y llorar.

¿No te parece que es así, Luis?

Sí, sí, definitivamente.

Eh, don-- Don Manuel Zeno Gandía y don Manuel Méndez Ballester, ¿Cómo era el que se llamaba el de Cayey?

Don Miguel Meléndez Muñoz.<i></i> <i>MANUEL: Sí.</i> ¡Sí!

These writers, they always wrote about how they saw life in Puerto Rico, about what they thought about it.

And, uh... Francisco Arriví, one of the costumbristas, his plays told you much about the ways of the island and about the folklore.

Me gustaría volver al Tapia y ver... <i>La carreta </i>de René Marqués.

Ay como me gustaría-- A lo mejor-- A lo mejor tendré la felicidad algún día de ver a-- a Delia en el papel de Juanita.

O en algún teatro aquí.

- Sí, sí.

Pero por ahora Delia debe pensar en la Cenicienta más linda del mundo.

I don't think I'm gonna try out for the part.

I think Laura is right.

It's all just kid stuff anyway.

Hey, abuelo.

What's the <i>Carreta </i>about<i>?</i> Oh, eso es una obra que me gustaría mucho que ustedes dos vieran.

Esa obra trata de la vida de una familia en Puerto Rico.

Te acuerdas aquella escena <i>que siempre te llamó</i> <i>mucho la atención a ti.</i> <i>LUIS: Ah, sí.</i> <i>Me acuerdo que era bien... </i> <i>[conversation continues]</i> <i>...la escena de...</i> <i>¿Cómo se llamaba</i> <i>aquel señor actor?</i> <i>¿Don Luis Vera?</i> <i>MANUEL: Luis Vera.</i> <i>LUIS: Don Luis Vera, </i> <i>que cogía la tierra al final...</i> <i>...era como si tuviera la tierra...</i> <i>[melody playing on TV]</i> <i>...el hombre de la tierra </i> <i>puertorriqueña, ¿no?</i> <i>[muffled conversation continues]</i> <i>...usted diciendo lo de que</i> <i>si le gustaría ver a Delia</i> <i>en el papel de Juanita..</i>.

<i>LUIS: Pensándolo bien, Delia</i> <i>se parece a la actriz aquella...</i> <i>[melody continues playing on TV]</i> <i>...Myrna Vázquez.</i> <i>LUIS: ¡Myrna Vázquez!</i> <i>MANUEL: Yo he pensado </i> <i>en eso muchas veces.</i> <i>LUIS: ¿Me está diciendo eso?</i> <i></i>[melody on TV plays louder] <i>LUIS: No me recordaba...</i> <i>MANUEL: Y si llegara a ser</i> <i>una actriz como esa...</i> [TV ad ends] <i>LUIS: y la señora esa</i> <i>que hacía el papel de--</i> <i>MANUEL: Ah, te acuerdas,</i> <i>un buen papel de--</i> <i>de La carreta, Jacobo Morales.</i> <i>LUIS: Jacobo Morales.</i> <i>Mire, ese señor,</i> <i>yo a veces lo veo a él--</i> <i>MANUEL: ¿De qué tú</i> <i>me ibas a hablar ahora?</i> <i>Perdón que te interrumpí.</i> <i>LUIS: De la señora,</i> <i>la actriz mayor,</i> <i>que era de los tiempos de radio</i> <i>de Puerto Rico...</i> Ángel.

Ángel.

<i>[door opens]</i> [door closes] Ángel.

You've got to lend me your dollar.

¿Por qué?

Because you've got to.

¿Para qué?

¡Porque lo necesito!

I got to know what you need it for.

I don't lend out my money just for anything.

Okay!

But you gotta keep it a secret.

You see, I want to play Cinderella in the school play.

And to be Cinderella, you have to be blonde.

So... I'm going to dye my hair blonde.

You wouldn't dare.

Lend me the money and you'll see.

Okay, this I've got to see.

[coins rattle] [suspenseful instrumental music] 50, 70... [♪] <i>DELIA: [shouts from a distance]</i> <i>Laura!</i> Laura, I have something important to tell you!

[♪] LAURA: [shocked] What?

[♪] <i>[door opens]</i> Well, these instructions seem clear, but we better get started because we have to finish before my mother gets home.

Are you sure you want to do it?

[softly] Yeah.

Well, I guess you're right.

If you want to be Cinderella, you have to be a blonde.

Okay, let's do it.

I don't know what you want to be a blonde for.

It looks nice, doesn't it?

Well, I guess I'm not used to being a blonde.

What will your mother say?

Laura!

What <i>will</i> she say?

I don't know.

I think I should go home.

Yeah, I guess.

My mother will be home any minute, and I don't think she should see you like that.

I think I should cover my hair until I can explain to my mother.

Can you lend me something?

Here, use this.

No, this won't work.

How about a pillowcase?

I can't wear that.

Don't you have a kerchief?

No, I never wear one.

I know!

You can use my storm cap.

There.

That looks fine.

Now you can go.

Bye.

[door closes] [exhales sharply] [indistinct chatter] <i>[chatter continues]</i> Delia?

Is that you?

Yes, mami.

[door closes] [indistinct chatter continue] LUIS: ...tiene siete ganados y uno perdido.

Candelaria... ...con los Piratas de Pittsburg, o sea que le... [indistinct] Delia, come out!

You've held up dinner long enough!

You didn't have permission to stay at Laura's <i>that </i>long.

We'll have to talk about that.

[conversation continues] ...que es justo-- permiso-- Mire, jovencita, en esta casa nosotros tratamos de ser puntuales.

Los unos con los nosotros.

Hace mucho rato que usted debió haber estado aquí.

Perdóname, papi.

Muy bien, estás perdonada.

Siéntate.

[conversation resumes] [tense acoustic music] Lo hiciste.

Gee, you've got guts.

What have you done?!

The teacher said that we had to study the character we wanted to play in order to become that character.

Mami, I want to play Cinderella, and in order to be Cinderella, you have to be a blonde.

Well, Doris, what seems to be the problem?

Why did you insist that Cinderella had to be a blonde?

I assure you I never mentioned such a thing.

Delia, where did you get such an idea?

Did I ever say anything about Cinderella having to be blonde?

Well, you never said <i>that,</i> but... But what, Delia?

Well... You suggested that in order to get into the character we wanted to play, we should imagine the moves, speech, thoughts, and look of that character.

And well, I did.

And I went to the library to do the research, like you said, and I found that in all the pictures, in the books, and in the movies, Cinderella was a blonde, and all the other princesses were blondes, too.

Delia, why didn't you tell me that before?

Last week, at a community activity, I heard a speaker discuss children's literature.

She pointed out that the majority of the existing books and stories for children are geared toward the Anglo-middle class child.

They present images that are totally irrelevant to children of different backgrounds.

That's why Delia thought as she did.

You know, that's so true, Doris.

Delia, Cindrella is not a blonde.

There's no reason why she has to be a blonde.

She's only a character.

What you saw in those books was the picture, the ideas that other people hold of Cinderella.

The important thing is how you write your scene, and how you make that character come to life through your interpretation.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you do that scene, Delia.

I'll start working on it right away!

Toma, ¿Doris?

¿Quieres hacerme ese?

<i>[door opens]</i> <i>[bell chimes]</i> [excitedly] Guess what?

You got the part!

You're playing Cinderella?

I knew it!

<i>DOÑA INÉS: </i> <i>Yo le voy a hacer</i> el traje más bello del mundo para esta Cinderella.

Well, I better go upstairs now and practice.

The performance is only a couple of weeks away, and you're all invited!

I guess she did a very good job on her presentation.

As good a job as she did on her hair.

ALL: [laugh] Anyway, it's good to have our Delia back.

Right?<i></i> <i>DORIS: That's right.</i> <i>That's right.</i> <i>She lost her glass slipper....</i> <i>Whoever fits shall be my queen.</i> Would you try it on for me?

Of course, I will.

It fits, it fits!

<i>[distant cheering]</i> You shall be my queen.

ALL: [applauding] LAURA: Bravo, Delia!

Bravo!

[cheering and applause continue] This dress you made for her.

It's even lovier on stage.

[applause] LUIS: Es la Cenicienta más linda del mundo... [chuckles] Aunque no es tan mala actriz tampoco, ¿sabes?

[cheering continues] [♪]