By: Celia Martinez

What better way to celebrate the life of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, than with a night of comedy. The National Museum of Mexican Art, in celebration of the 2012 Sor Juana Festival: A Tribute to Mexican Women hosted Wonder Women of Comedy last Saturday evening in honor of the 17th century Mexican nun.
The comedic line-up consisted of Gwen La Roka, Amy Eisenberg, Jackie Herrera and Patti Vasquez who also served as host of the evening.

“When I put this festival together I think of my mother and I sort of imagine the women who didn’t get to live out their dreams outside of the kitchen,” said Jorge Valdivia, director of performing arts at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

This is the first year the Museum has put together a comedy show during the Sor Juana festival, so it was not exactly a walk in the park for Valdivia. “There’s always hurdles and challenges to overcome,” said Valdivia. “But in the end when you see people having a great time and you see them truly engaged and connected… I think the golden seal is the applause and the laughter.”

Valdivia said he knew he wanted comedians who were of course female and of Mexican background, but he also wanted them to break barriers and push the edge in a way that would reflect women of the Latino community.
And in that aspect he truly succeeded in choosing the right candidates. The four-some were unapologetically funny, coming from different walks of life and ultimately proving that Latinas are not one-dimensional. “They were very outspoken and very in-your-face,” said Valdivia of the night’s performers. “And they didn’t apologize for that and that’s ok.”

The night opened with new comer, Jackie Herrera. Herrera said her comedy comes from everyday life, but she took consideration in the Sor Juan festival when preparing her material of the night. “I hope [women] feel that they can be empowered,” said Herrera. “And I think that it’s important for women to be lighthearted at some points in their life.”

Perhaps the most uncensored comedian of the night was Amy Eisenberg. Eisenberg said that although she felt overwhelmed and excited to be a part of the Wonder Women of Comedy during the Sor Juana festival, she also felt awkward. “My dad was the Mexican part of who I am and I never met him,” said Eisenberg. “But I felt like I learned a lot tonight. It was amazing.”

Eisenberg hoped that if the audience could take away one thing from the night, it would be to not take life so seriously. “I just want people to realize that life isn’t so serious and they shouldn’t take it so serious,” she said. “Just have a great time and enjoy it.”

The audience seemed pleasantly surprised when Gwen La Roka came out on stage twice during the show. La Roka is no stranger to stand-up, having done shows for the Laugh Factory and the Mikey O comedy club. “It is an honor to be a part of something that is celebrating the loveliness of Latina Mexicanas,” said La Roka. “Strong women.”

La Roka hysterically explained how Mexican mothers whisper unnecessarily and how Latino families never appear on shows like the Super Nanny. However, La Roka said she doesn’t intentionally integrate her Latina roots into her comedy. “There’s already a lot of stereotypical comedy out there. I think it would be easy for me to come out on stage and say ‘hey where the Mexicanos at? Watch your wallets’. That’s something that anybody can do.”

La Roka said her technique is taking the everyday, ordinary situations in life and finding the funny, which means that sometimes she’ll speak Spanglish or discuss the Latino or Mexican culture. “It’s already a part of who I am so it kind of just comes out,” said La Roka. “It just sprinkles all over my material.”
Valdivia said he decided to include a comedy show in this year’s Sor Juana festival because he has seen a boom in stand-up comedy in the Latino community as well as Latinos in comedy and said he would love to incorporate stand-up comedy as part of the festival every year, especially after a great turnout.

“I’m trying to honor the women that I’m trying to recognize,” said Valdivia. “I want to pay them respect the right way and I think we did that tonight.”
For images of this event, visit www.facebook.com/lawndalenews or www.facebook.com/magaleee.