A cabaret inspired by Mexico's Golden Age of film, exploring themes of social justice and identity through the story of a woman living a double life in 1940s Mexico City.
Ground Floor Theatre opens Emiliana: A Revolution Cabaret on August 13, with the run continuing through August 29. It's a cabaret set in Mexico City in the 1940s, following Silvia Ibarra, a doctor's daughter who spends her days preparing to be a respectable wife and her nights as Emiliana, a cabaretera who worships Emiliano Zapata and dreams of returning her grandfather's land to the campesinos. When her double life comes to light, her future is thrown into turmoil.
The show draws on the prostitute melodramas of Mexico's Golden Age of film and reimagines the genre through a lens of social justice for Indigenous, femme, and queer communities. It grew out of a joke between playwright Jessica L. Peña Torres and her late collaborator Tenzing Ortega about a show in which a sex worker dresses as Emiliano Zapata; after Ortega died in 2023, Peña Torres kept the idea growing. The production first appeared at The Cohen New Works Festival in 2025 and is built with alumni, faculty, and students of the University of Texas at Austin.
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On stage, Jessica L. Peña Torres plays the title role of Emiliana, with Rai González as Citiali and Diana Patricia Guizado as Musician. Mateo Hernandez directs. You can catch it at Ground Floor Theatre, 979 Springdale Rd, Austin, TX 78702, from August 13 to August 29.
