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CSUN Professor to Bring Her One-Woman Show Home to Northridge

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 4, 2007) — Cal State Northridge Chicana/o studies instructor Maria Elena Fernandez has performed her one-woman show, "Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist," in theaters across the country. She is now bringing it home to Northridge with a performance on Monday, April 23.

Fernandez will present "Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist" at 7:30 p.m. in the Northridge Center of the University Student Union on the west side of the campus off Zelzah Avenue. While admission is free, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist" is Fernandez’ light-hearted autobiographical story of breaking free from the tight grip of her traditional Los Angeles immigrant family. The play chronicles the changes she undergoes as she flees her family in good-girl style by moving across the country to attend an Ivy League university. Electrified by the feminist theory she learns in the classroom and the clashing hyper-femininity of the cha chas, ’80’s disco girls, she grew up with, Fernandez takes back her body from the shame she grew up with.

Fernandez has toured "Cha Cha Feminist" in about a dozen states, including Rhode Island, New Mexico, Indiana and across Texas and California to critical acclaim and sold-out audiences.

"I’ve been doing my show for six years and teaching here at CSUN for nine, and this is my first time doing my whole show on campus," Fernandez said.

Fernandez teaches history in the Department of Chicana/o Studies and has kept her academic and performance lives separate until last semester. That was when a colleague in the Department of Anthropology invited her to present an excerpt from the play to a class on gender.

"It was a class of 100, and a 100 more showed up, among them various student leaders," Fernandez said. "They loved the excerpt and wanted to produce the whole show on campus."

Her campus appearance is being co-produced by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan de CSUN and the Anthropology Student Association.

"I am so excited to finally be able to share my whole show on my own campus, but I’m a little bit nervous because my persona teaching history is mostly serious and my show is very playful and explores sensuality," Fernandez said. "So, let’s just say my students are going to see me like they’ve never seen me before."

Fernandez earned her bachelor’s degree in American studies from Yale and her master’s degree in history from UCLA. She joined CSUN’s Chicana/o Studies Department nine years ago on a part-time basis in part because she found the hours accommodated her efforts to become a writer. But her day job soon became a passion.

"In many ways, I do the same thing in a classroom that I do on stage," she said. "With one, I’m empowering women and with the other, I’m empowering young Latinas and Latinos to learn their culture and history."

Fernandez said she has been astonished at the reaction her shows have received from women.

"My shows are typically 90 percent Latina," she said. "It’s amazing to me how strongly Latinas of all ages identify with my story. It’s really the story of so many of us. To me, the most important thing about the show is that it supports women in overcoming the shame we learned about our bodies and our sexuality."

For more information about the performance, call the Department of Chicana/o Studies at (818) 677-2734.