Motherlands by Camille Hernandez

Sierra Madre Playhouse presents

Motherlands

By Camille Hernandez

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Poet, performer, and educator Camille Hernandez presents an immersive reimagining of her celebrated chapbook Motherlands — now transformed into a choreopoem and one-woman play that merges movement, rhythm, and language into living performance. Rather than reciting from behind a podium, Hernandez animates her poetry through gesture, breath, and motion, weaving text and embodiment into a single, fluid expression.

Motherlands explores themes of diaspora, belonging, and inheritance—what it means to carry many homes within one body. Through her work, Hernandez navigates identity across generations, languages, and geographies, using poetry as both confession and conversation. The performance builds on the traditions of spoken word and performance art while embracing the physicality of dance and theatre.

This evening offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience poetry as performance—visceral, emotional, and alive. Hernandez’s choreopoem invites the listener to move with her through the landscapes of memory and migration, finding beauty, humor, and truth in the search for home. For the program, Hernandez is also preparing a traditional Filipino Kamayan feast that blends her Black and Filipino cultures while reciting poetry and speaking, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

What to expect:

• About the piece: Motherlands is a theatrical piece about one woman’s realization that she’s connected to everything in the world through the lens of motherhood as activism, immigration, and the devastation and hope that comes from war.

• What you’ll experience: This one-person theatrical performance is going to be an interactional and interdimensional audio-visual experience that you can take part in. Rather than Camille reciting my poems from behind a podium, she’ll be putting on a performance that builds on the traditions of spoken word and performance art while embracing the physicality and visuals of theatre.

• A unique performance and author interaction: As part of the show, Camille will also be preparing a traditional Filipino Kamayan feast that blends her Black and Filipino cultures live on stage while reciting poetry and speaking, and audience members are invited to come eat the feast onstage with her after the performance.

• Books: No Author @ The Playhouse event would be complete without books! There will also autographed copies of the original Motherlands chapbook Camille wrote that the play is based on available for purchase at the event.