‘Con Mis Manos’: Everyone’s familia – Austin, Texas

“Down in the Valley, where Texas suburbia looks more like Mexico than the Mexican side of the border, people say pos instead of pues (a transition that means “well”), simón to mean “right on,” and guey interchangeably with dude. English speakers can carry on a full conversation with Spanglish speakers and can certainly comprehend a Chicano play.

Con Mis Manos takes place in el Valle, and while there are plenty of Latino plays, few conjure the same sense of place while painting an observant portrait of a family coping with cancer. The drama follows David as he looks back at his father’s way of handling – or not handling – his wife’s terminal brain cancer by squandering what little money the family had on barbecues, Christmas in July, and a quinceañera for his 11-year-old daughter, instead of preparing for a funeral. The play takes its title from the father’s assertion that “with these hands, your Papi can fix anything.” Except cancer.”

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