FOREWORD: Álamo Oliveira wrote his one-act play Bocas de mulheres [The Mouths of Women] at the behest of Dr. Deolinda Adão, then the coordinator of the University of California-Berkeley’s Portuguese Studies Program, so it could receive its world première — with actors Maria do Carmo Amaral, Judite Parreira and Filomena Ferreira from the Azores’ Alpendre Theater — at Cal’s Durham Theater on April 23, 2005, under the direction of the playwright, as part of the 2nd International Conference The Choice and Voice of Women in Portugal and in the Diaspora.

During December 2005 and January 2006, the cast next performed the work on their home stage in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira. Bocas de mulheres then enjoyed encore presentations by the same actors on tour in California in early April 2006, in conjunction with events in Berkeley, Gilroy, and Turlock honoring the publication of Álamo’s newly translated novel I No Longer Like Chocolates, as well as at a non-book related event in Tulare.

The cast reprised the play in the Azores in Fall 2006: in Álamo’s hometown of Raminho, Terceira (two performances); at the 7th Juvearte Theater Festival at the Coliseu Micaelense in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel; and four more times on Terceira – as the opening performance of the 4th annual Encontro de Teatro of the Grupo de Teatro da Sociedade Musical Recreio in Terra Chã, in Fontinhas, at the Sociedade Filarmónia Progresso Biscoitense in Biscoitos, and at the Centro Cultural do Ramo Grande in Praia da Vitória.

Katharine Baker, who attended the play’s 2005 Berkeley première, later translated it into English with her Portuguese professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Bobby J. Chamberlain, Ph.D. (1946-2022).

Three actresses from Left to right: Maria do Carmo Amaral “Carmita”, Judite Parreira, and Filomena Ferreira – Photo by Dr. Elmano Costa.

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Two scenes from THE MOUTHS OF WOMEN [BOCAS DE MULHERES]

A Play in One Act by Álamo Oliveira

Translated by Katharine F. Baker and Bobby J. Chamberlain, Ph.D.

* * *

Scene 16

MARIA

Another land, another language, another culture, and above all other ways and customs. But the world advances by leaps and bounds toward good and evil alike. Prejudices don’t fit with responsibility; nor meanness with freedom.

FRANCISCA

So…

MARIA

Joana, where are you going, all fixed up this way? You know perfectly well your father doesn’t appreciate seeing you dressed like that.

JOANA

You two have to get used to the fact that we’re in America.

MARIA

In America one can have both shame and good judgment.

JOANA

Oh, mom! I give them more to see when I’m dressed the other way.

MARIA

Well, at least may I know where you’re going?

JOANA

I’m going to see a drive-in movie.

MARIA

What? You’re going to that field, sitting inside a car?

JOANA

There aren’t any other theaters near here.

MARIA

And who are you going with?

JOANA

John.

MARIA

Alone with him?

JOANA

What’s that supposed to mean?

MARIA

Have a little shame, girl. Francisca, go along with your sister.

FRANCISCA

Oh, I’m not going. She knows perfectly well how to take care of herself. Besides, Richard’s coming by later to pick me up so we can go out to dinner.

MARIA

You two weren’t raised this way.

JOANA

We were raised by our mother and father. If we have the good sense to work hard every day of the year, and nobody’s offended by that, then we also have the good sense to enjoy ourselves every chance we can.

MARIA

What will people say when they find out that my daughters go out at night alone with their boyfriends!

JOANA

They won’t say anything. Their daughters go out alone with their boyfriends, too.

FRANCISCA

I’ve got my makeup on…

JOANA

With lots of toilete paper!

            They exit.

MARIA

No. I can’t lock them in the house. Can’t spank them. They’d call the police. In this land, women run wild. Go to bars with men. Drink. Smoke. Keep their earnings for themselves. Don’t ask parental permission to go out. Marry and unmarry as if they were merely changing the locks on the front door. Make themselves up and dress fancier than cows at a bodo de leite. If this were back in our land, no one would have any doubt. They would be considered whores. But in America, this is how it is – women are the equals of men. Really, America could get excommunicated!

JOANA

            enters and speaks to an unseen person off-stage

Until tomorrow! Sweet dreams!

FRANCISCA

            enters and speaks to an unseen person off-stage

Yes, OK. I call you!

ALL THREE dance around the stage, singing repetitions of the chorus to “America” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, while clapping on the off-beats.

I LIKE TO BE IN AMERICA

            OK BY ME IN AMERICA

            EV’RYTHING FREE IN AMERICA

            FOR A SMALL FEE IN AMERICA!

(BLACKOUT)

* * *

Scene 18

JOANA

Women, women, women!

FRANCISCA

Women with mouths!

MARIA

Women without mouths!

JOANA

Women without food on their tongues!

FRANCISCA

Women without tongues!

MARIA

My husband beats me like a rented mule.

JOANA

I couldn’t get a job, Senhor Administrator, because I’m a woman.

FRANCISCA

They don’t let me vote, because I’m a woman.

MARIA

I can’t go out at night, and during the day I have to keep my face covered.

JOANA

They don’t let me choose the father for my children.

FRANCISCA

I can’t go to school, much less a university.

MARIA

 It’s society mouthpieces that tell us this, every day.

JOANA

My man treats me as if I were a piece of furniture.

FRANCISCA

Men treat me like a piece of meat, just for the sex.

MARIA

Nations that say they’re free know about this, but do nothing.

JOANA

They prefer to fight over a kilo of cocaine.

FRANCISCA

Over a barrel of oil.

MARIA

Over the counting of ballots.

JOANA

They establish quotas for women in government and never fill them. They think we’re incompetent.

FRANCISCA

They give women job titles with “assistant” in them – assistant secretary, assistant director, assistant technician, assistant janitor…

MARIA

They say that women drive up the national inflation rate by going to the hairdresser. But only men are able to drive up inflation, by buying gifts for their mistresses.

JOANA

“For ME? Why, they’re beautiful! Thank you so much,Senhor Minister!”

FRANCISCA

“A trip to the Caribbean? Us? By ourselves? How wonderful,Senhor Minister!”

MARIA

You accept these presents whether or not you pay the price in bed? They take advantage now, while there are no elections. It’s just that when the ministers change, the beds change.

JOANA

You’re just jealous.

MARIA

No, my dear. At most, men mentally undress me only down to my bra and panties. I am my own woman as if I were a flower and, from poetry, I only seek freedom.

FRANCISCA

Mouths!

MARIA

Mouths! But of women!

(BLACKOUT)