Review Roundup: MY BROKEN LANGUAGE Starring Daphne Rubin-Vega and More at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre's production of Quiara Alegría Hudes' My Broken Language, the acclaimed playwright's stage adaptation of her eponymous memoir, officially opened last night, November 6.

The world premiere production, directed by Hudes, collides monologue, literary reading, music, and movement in its depiction of an author growing up in el barrio in Philadelphia during the 90s, in a Puerto Rican family held together by women: recalling the uplift, the grief, the spirits, the dance. Navigating the margins of many communities, they forge a language all their own.

My Broken Language runs through Nov 27, 2022 in the Pershing Square Signature Center's Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre (480 W 42nd St, New York).

Read the reviews below!

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David Finkle, New York Stage Review: Ultimately, the triumph Hudes achieves in My Broken Language is two-fold. She makes it utterly clear that her primary goal is to let Puerto Rican women know she has seen them, is one of them, and is planting their more-often-than-not untold stories front and center for them to watch themselves as appreciated for who and what they are.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: The way Hudes has fashioned a 90-minute theater piece out of her 336-page memoir reflects both her personal interests, and her theatrical smarts. The resulting show offers some lively moments, and some lovely ones. Those of us who read her memoir, though, may have mixed feelings about some of the changes from page to stage.

Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide: In other words, there's no better way to present Hudes's family story than as a play, which she also directed. That's evident from the opening moment, in which a frustrated woman clacks away at her laptop, stops, hits delete, and gets up to dance. Suddenly, My Broken Language bursts alive as four more actors and a piano player flood the teal-tiled stage (Arnulfo Maldonado did the gorgeous set) with more joyous dancing and music.

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