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Mala  By  cover art

Mala

By: Melinda Lopez
Narrated by: Melinda Lopez
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Publisher's summary

An utterly unsentimental journey toward the end of life, Mala is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope, and survive in the moment. Grounded in distinctive emotional language and sharp humor, this powerful one-woman show written and performed by Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew) dances between a mother’s growing frailty and a daughter’s quest for grace—all set during an epic Boston winter. Rather than depict a right way, the play opens the door for conversation regarding our universal struggle to support those we love in dying, especially when all we’ve ever focused on is surviving.

Funny, brutally honest, and ultimately cathartic, Mala—which won the Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play in 2017—puts a sharp focus on what it means to put our loved ones first, right to the very end, and what happens when we strive to be good but don’t always succeed.

Mala was written with the support of the Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program, administered in partnership with Howlround. Mala was originally produced by Arts Emerson. Special thanks to P Carl, David Dower, Peter DuBois and the Huntington Theatre Company.

Experience this title in immersive 3D audio by setting your download quality to High within the app. Headphones recommended. For more, browse our entire collection of 3D audio listens.

©2019 Melinda Lopez (P)2019 AO Media LLC

Go Behind the Scenes with Melinda Lopez

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Publisher's summary

An utterly unsentimental journey toward the end of life, Mala is an irreverent exploration of how we live, cope, and survive in the moment. Grounded in distinctive emotional language and sharp humor, this powerful one-woman show written and performed by Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew) dances between a mother’s growing frailty and a daughter’s quest for grace—all set during an epic Boston winter. Rather than depict a right way, the play opens the door for conversation regarding our universal struggle to support those we love in dying, especially when all we’ve ever focused on is surviving.

Funny, brutally honest, and ultimately cathartic, Mala—which won the Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play in 2017—puts a sharp focus on what it means to put our loved ones first, right to the very end, and what happens when we strive to be good but don’t always succeed.

Mala was written with the support of the Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program, administered in partnership with Howlround. Mala was originally produced by Arts Emerson. Special thanks to P Carl, David Dower, Peter DuBois and the Huntington Theatre Company.

Experience this title in immersive 3D audio by setting your download quality to High within the app. Headphones recommended. For more, browse our entire collection of 3D audio listens.

©2019 Melinda Lopez (P)2019 AO Media LLC
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Our favorite moments from Mala

That’s what the Good Daughter does…
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Seriously, I am not in denial.
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She told me about the mouse blood.
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It’s not like my mother isn’t tough.
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  • Mala
  • That’s what the Good Daughter does…
  • Mala
  • Seriously, I am not in denial.
  • Mala
  • She told me about the mouse blood.
  • Mala
  • It’s not like my mother isn’t tough.
Melinda Lopez

About the Author and Performer

Melinda Lopez is the playwright-in-residence at the Huntington Theatre Company, and a National Playwriting Fellow with the Mellon Foundation. Her plays have been seen all over the United States, and most recently in Cuba. Her work strives to bridge the 90 miles between the United States and Cuba. Mala, Sonia Flew, and Becoming Cuba are her best known plays. Ms. Lopez was the first recipient of the Charlotte Woolard Award, given by the Kennedy Center to a “promising new voice in American Theatre.” She has served as a panel member for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cambridge Arts Panel, and has enjoyed residencies with the Huntington Playwriting Fellows, the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, the Lark, the New York Theatre Workshop, and Harvard University. Ms. Lopez is also an actress and has appeared in regional theatres across the country, and works in film and radio. She teaches playwriting at Boston University and Wellesley College. She is active in the Cuban American community, raising funds for humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba, and was mentioned by President Obama in his speech to the Cuban and American people in 2016. Mayor Marty Walsh declared October 29, 2016 “Melinda Lopez Day” in the city of Boston, where she lives with her husband, daughter, giant yellow dog, and other critters. She has run two marathons, plays a little ukulele, and occasionally sleeps on the ground in the American Southwest.

What listeners say about Mala

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Amazing performance

Usually I start a review with talking about the content and then going onto the narration. But here I start with narration - because it is amazing. Extremely good. Melinda Lopez is brilliant. I cannot praise her performance enough.

She fills the performance with emotion - excitement, anger, disappointment, fear, amusement, sadness, loss. It's all there, in the best way. You can hear her voice shake with fear and sadness as she discusses the events of the story. As a listener you are carried on the journey with Lopez because of her narration.

There is swearing in this - in both English and Spanish - so if you have a problem with that, this is probably not for you. There is small bits of ethereal music between sections, and the occasional sound effect, but it is all used very sparingly and doesn't overwhelm the storytelling.

'Mala' is the story of a Cuban-American family. The story of a daughter, the younger daughter, the 'bad' daughter, dealing with her elderly mother as the mother becomes feeble, and sick, as old age takes over. It is about the pain, confusing, self blame, fear and love of watching a strong woman waste away. It goes through the ups and downs and the mother deteriorates and improves, as she has good days and bad days.

It is not told in a linear fashion, with that narrator jumping around in time, giving events out as they come to mind. Sometimes this is telling of events as they happen, sometimes giving background to events. It's vignettes of the relationship of mother and daughter, especially towards the end of life. It's the daughter working through the changes and the grief, while also being confronted by her own mortality.

The story is really good, and the narration is amazing. I enjoyed this story way, way more than I ever expected I would.

[If you enjoy this review please check out my other reviews. I review a lot of small press and indie books - support the small guys and you may find something new you will love]

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81 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hardest thing to do

I have searched for a book which I could read where someone could describe their experience of what it felt like to them to experience the decline and death of a beloved parent. Thank you for writing this, because it makes me feel normal. The narration is perfect.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I needed this

I’m 42. I’ve been married 20 years. We have 2 teenagers. We’ve buried 3 of our 4 parents. We’ve outlived a great-grandmother that we all knew to the bottom of our bones would outlive us. Now, the last parent is dying by miles, instead of feet or inches.
Grief is a familiar friend with the heaviest hands.
Melinda Lopez has reminded me of many true things.
-though ordinary, it is as much an honor to witness the transition to death as it is with birth. Both are so messy, painful, and fundamental to our species, yet no one REALLY can prepare us for the profound change they shift us into... the New Normal.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Real, brutal, honest, brave, ...life

🌷💗 Living her words. Feeling and breathing everything she's written in one form or another from telling a family member to come say goodbye to my father and it went unheard to bring the youngest and the one left to take care of everything though there are others but can't be bothered. Only difference is my mother is lucid and thankful and for that I am ever so grateful! Watching my dad suffer in horrible pain for many years was but wrenching. To put into words her experience and feelings is amazing. I give her credit. I think I would crumble as I reflect on all that happened and is happening instead of draw strength. So many caretakers in this world and very few that help lift up the caretakers themselves. Excellent book. Highly recommend. 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Jumbled like real life.

Things to consider before you are in this situation. Somber sobering observing. Fly-on-the-wall education if you have someone you will need to help on the final journey of life.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Facing Death

Death is such a hard concept to wrap your head around. At times it seems like it only happens to ‘them’. Never to ‘us’. But the truth is that death catches up with everybody eventually.

In this heartrending book, Melinda Lopez takes on the difficult subject head-on by speaking frankly of the myriad of crazy thoughts and feelings that creep up on you and overwhelm you when faced with the death of a loved one. She writes with such passion, and her confusion and anger and sadness are felt deeply.

If you’re facing the death of somebody close, this book might help you come to terms with the difficulty of letting go.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Overboard

Almost all elements of the play are cliché and overused. The story, the structure, the shaky-voice performance, and the cuts/closing scenes. Way overboard I almost felt embarrassed for the writer/performer.

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9 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Please choose a language to tell the story in

I love that America is multicultural country, our diversity is our strength and advantage in the world. However when telling a story either do it in English or Spanish, and if a character speaks Spanish in an English story: PLEASE TRANSLATE! I feel like I lost most of the story, and if we are going to understand each other we have to know what you are saying.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Self pity blah blah

This piece could have been interesting if the narrator had better explored who her mother was before her illness and the intricacies of the family relationships. Instead it's a lot of complaining. Granted, she's entitled to complain--to her friends--about what was clearly a really hard and awful situation, caring for two old and ailing parents. But as literature or art...this fell flat.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very emotional

I like it, I feel related from time to time. Sometimes is not easy been a good daughter, sometimes it's OK to be Mala.

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8 people found this helpful