“Duende de Lorca” was performed by Teatro Milagro, a Portland-based theater company, Monday in Memorial Union as part of an effort to celebrate Hispanic heritage at MU. The event was hosted by the Multicultural Center and organized by the Hispanic American Leadership Organization in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

For this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, HALO wanted to enlist a theater company to perform a play at MU that showcases Hispanic diversity.

“Usually, for Hispanic Heritage month we’ve been known to bring a musical performance,” said Ana Gutierrez-Gamez, HALO president and coordinator of programming for the Multicultural Center. “Rarely do we bring a theatrical performance, so we wanted to do things a little differently this year.”

Teatro Milagro Theater Company, who performed on campus three years ago, returned to perform “Duende de Lorca” using only four actors — all bilingual.

“They performed here about two years ago and they wanted to come back for Hispanic Heritage month,” Gutierrez-Gamez said.

“Duende de Lorca” portrays the dramatic life of Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca as he chases success as a writer. Said to be the most influential Hispanic poet of the 20th century, Lorca, like many of the college students in the audience, had to overcome obstacles to reach success.

“Hopefully, this will help spread Latin culture around campus,” new HALO member Karessa Hinkle said adding that the “camaraderie” was her favorite part of being in HALO.

Keeping with the Hispanic Heritage theme, the play was performed utilizing key elements of Latin culture such as wardrobe, hair styles, music and dancing in addition to both English and Spanish dialogue. The play was even introduced by Gutierrez-Gamez in both languages.

“A lot of us grew up in bilingual households, so it’s something we can relate to, not only here in school, but at home as well,” Gutierrez-Gamez said. “It’s tailored to us and what we know.”

HALO plans to continue getting Hispanic students involved in the MU community beyond Hispanic Heritage Month through many activities.

“We are going to have a food expo pretty soon, it is this week on Thursday, and we are going to do a lot of retreats within our organization and we are also hoping to bring in a lot more guest speakers,” Boyd said. Speakers they hope to bring to MU include St. Louis Cardinals player Albert Pujols and a representative from the office of Hillary Clinton.