New York International Latino Film Festival 2009

In New York City's changing Lower East Side, a group of older Puerto Rican women are brought together with a group of inner city youths to create an original play from the stories of their lives. Over a twenty-week period, the participants confront stereotypes and examine their own histories, exploring themes of immigration, relationships, coming of age and growing older. Woven together, their stories take on new meaning, first as they are spoken across generations, and later when they are performed in a sold-out show. Responding to a political climate that assigns little value to community arts initiatives, "Stages" offers an intimate portrait of an unlikely ensemble, transformed by the liberating power of their own stories.