This weekend on Sunday, March 1, I saw the play based on the book, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” at a theater in Chicago. When you first walk into the theater, there is a full bar full of food and drinks to bring in the playroom. You climb four sets of stairs to get to the theater and immediately there is a giant projection of the Virgin Mary. Mexican music is being played and the room is dark.

   The story is about a young Hispanic-American daughter who has recently lost her sister to a car crash. The story tells how the recently passed daughter was a perfect representation of what their immigrant mother wanted. The main character, Julia, is the exact opposite of what the mother’s expectations were. She is a writer who wants to follow her dreams instead of the norm – hard work your whole life. Or the famous saying the mother was quoted for, “Work like a donkey, die like a donkey.”

    The play goes through Julia’s struggles with grieving her sister, school life, new relationships, her bond with her mother and getting into college. Although the play had some very serious parts where they showed light on mental health and the struggles of immigrants to maintain a basic living style, Julia was very comical at times and always lightened up the mood somehow.