Mija is a new musical with music, lyrics and lyric translations by Latin-Grammy winning Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno, music and lyrics by Portland singer-songwriter Anna Gilbert, and book by Broadway and YouTube artist Evynne Hollens and Seattle playwright Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth. Inspired by the miraculous true story of a Latin American woman and her quest to reconnect with her roots, Mija is a deeply personal story about identity, womanhood, and the complexity of family.

 

Leaving behind her life in the U.S., Luisa embarks on a quest to rediscover her Guatemalan roots, but is blindsided by an unexpected, life-threatening pregnancy that sets in motion a perilous chain of events defining her future. Eighteen years later in Oregon, Gabriela aches for grown-up life to start; but first, she seeks to uncover secrets from a complex past the adults around her keep hidden.

 

Spanning two languages, generations, and countries, occurring two decades apart, these storylines unroll in breathless simultaneity, intertwining in surprising ways. Before spreading her wings, each woman must come to terms with the thorny layers of her history, all the while questioning her relationship to family, identity, and choice. Told as a bilingual story through stirring music and a witty, heartfelt book, Mija moves us to hold tight to the ones we love.

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