Food, community and bilingual dialogue were center stage at the Umble Center last weekend in “Las Neuvas Tamaleras,” Goshen College’s Homecoming one-act production.

The play centered on three friends, Sylvia, Josie and Patsy as they struggled, and ultimately succeeded, at making tamales together.

While this was happening, Doña Juanita and Doña Mercedes, a pair of spirits from days gone by, watched over them and attempted to aid in their culinary endeavors. Amy Budd, associate professor of theater and the show’s producer, described the play as being about “gossiping while you cook” and “the power of hanging out with our friends.”

A major feature of “Las Nuevas Tamaleras” is the show’s dialogue, which alternates between Spanish and English throughout the character’s conversation.

Budd believes the play does an excellent job of balancing the languages. “Any listener, on the scale of ‘only speaks English’ to ‘only speaks Spanish’ will have an equally fun time,” she said.

This was the second time that “Las Nuevas Tamaleras had been performed at GC. In December 2022, the department produced a staged reading of the play after Cristobal Garza Gonzalez, associate professor of Spanish and director of the play, brought the play to Budd’s attention in spring 2021. Budd said, “Folks enjoyed it so much that I wanted to give this particular script a little more love and a little more exposure to the Goshen Community.”

Mairin Mendoza, a senior theater major, played Patsy in this year’s production. “It was very fun to see both interpretations that the first cast had and what this cast is now,” she said.

The first time “Las Nuevas Tamaleras” ran, Mendoza was a first-year. Mendoza said that her character “has matured as I’ve matured here at Goshen College.”

The show marked several exciting moments of transition for the GC theater department. Natalie Neufeld, a first-year nursing student and the show’s stage manager, said, “Almost everyone working on the show is new to theater at Goshen.”

Seven of the crew involved in this production were new to their roles. These new crew members included Neufeld, three of the five actors, lighting and sound operators, and Garza Gonzalez.